The Forgotten Hero
by Charlie-Guevara
Summary: A Percy/Artemis story . Seen as a great threat to the gods, Percy is exiled and forgotten after completing the 'impossible' task of closing the Doors of Death. However, everything changes once a certain daughter of Zeus and a beautiful goddess arrive at his campsite . Read on to see what happens! Pertimus, T for now but the potential for M (sex) later.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**Set after the Heroes of Olympus series, assuming that said heroes win and all of them survive. This story won't focus on Jason or Piper or any of the newer characters very much because I don't like them so much. They'll probably pop up every now and then, though.**

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Once, many years ago now, I was called the greatest demigod ever. The bravest and best hero ever to hold a sword in Greek history. I recovered the master bolt for Zeus, found the long lost golden fleece, held the sky whilst trying not to get killed by an evil giant, navigated the labyrinth, defeated Kronos and all of his armies. I'm not trying to boast, but you've got admit – I had a pretty impressive CV. It was a difficult life, an impossible quest every other day, but mostly a good one. Back then, I had friends. My cyclops half-brother. The rest of the Heroes of Olympus. A beautiful, smart and dangerous girlfriend who had once told me that it didn't matter what we did as long as we were together. Haven't seen her in a while.

What you've got to understand is that I'm an outlaw. After my last mission, the greatest of them all, the Olympians summoned me to their throne room. I told them my story, the story of how I'd managed to fight through an ever replenishing army of monsters in the place where they were most powerful. I'd closed the Doors of Death and stopped the return of Gaea, the being the gods feared most. It wasn't as if I was expecting great rewards of godship and favour (I've already been offered those), but a thank you would've been nice. Instead, Zeus told me that I was too powerful to be kept in the hidden modern Greek world. The king of the gods argued that my stroll through the epitome of suffering and pain (a nice place called Tartarus) had unhinged me and that I was a loose cannon. He narrowly won the vote and that was that. I was given twenty four hours to isolate myself at an acceptable distance from Manhattan. And that's how I got here five years ago - I've been alone ever since.

Where was 'here'? I wasn't quite sure. It was certainly a nice place though, a lovely beach which nobody has seemed to find. I didn't know whether the gods have played some part in making sure that I'd had no visitors, but it certainly seemed strange to me that such a lovely beach had been ignored for half a decade. I could enjoy a relatively comfortable life there. Animals and food were plentiful, I'd managed to build myself a workable shack and for those times that I got really lonely, I could take a dip in the sea and talk to some of the creatures. The sea seemed to go on forever and the water was as clean as any that I'd ever seen. On the top of the beach, where there was soft, yellow sand, I'd built my hut. It was smaller than a single room in a normal house, but there was enough space to keep everything that I needed. The wood seemed good, stable and sturdy and there weren't too many leaks through the straw ceiling. And only about one hundred metres from where I'd laid my base, there was a lush forest full to the brim of untouched materials and food. So my situation could've been worse. Over the last few months I'd been remembering Calypso, who was in a similar state of isolation as me. She had a lovely island, but she got barely a visitor every thousand years. I often wondered how my life would've changed had I decided to stay with her. I wish I had now.

That night, after eating my staple dinner of roasted rabbit with the various herbs that I could pick up in the nearby forest, I had to tuck up into my blanket even more than usual. Winter was coming - my least favourite part of the year. My powers decreased, and I had to use fire more and more, an element that I could never really trust. I squashed myself into a ball and hugged the animal skin blankets tight. On the edge of falling asleep, I heard a low growl on the other side of the thin wooden wall of my shack. It was not the growl of a normal dog, or even a wolf. No, it was even deeper, more raspy and infinitely more sinister. My survival instincts, or what I had left of them after five years of not needing them, told me that it was a mythological creature and that I wouldn't have much time before it was at the entrance to the shack. I took my faithful pen from my pocket, one of the few magic items that I had been allowed to keep, and stepped to the door. Whatever it was, it didn't approach but I could hear it bounding around nearby. Every time its paws it the ground there was an earth shaking thump, and by the pattern of these these bounds I could tell that it was a four legged creature. I stepped out into the darkness, following the sound. It was hardly a subtle animal, and even an abysmal tracker like me could trace it. I kept on its trail for the next few minutes, a few minutes which felt like much longer as I got further and further away from my little home. It wouldn't be long before I'd be in unexplored territory and in the darkness it wouldn't be easy to find my way back. Suddenly, the beast stopped and the forest went quiet. I started to run forwards, knowing that if it had stopped then I'd be able to catch up. I followed the massive paw prints until the trail stopped, but still the creature was nowhere in sight.  
_It's more subtle than I thought,_ I silently told myself. It was as if this obviously massive predator had just vanished into thin air. I stood in the centre of the forest clearing, fifty metre tall trees obscuring all but the night sky. There was no sound, not even a rabbit rustling around in the bushes or an owl going out to hunt.  
My frustration and fear got the better of me. "Where are you!" I bellowed into the night. Birds flew from their nests into the sky, I heard the growl again behind me. Slowly, my heart thumping more than it had in years, I turned to face it. I was greeted by a slobbery lick from my favourite hellhound.

"Mrs O'Leary!" I laughed in delight. Smiling literally hurt, I obviously hadn't done it in ages. "You scared the life out of me, girl!"

I couldn't speak dog, but I assumed that an even bigger slobbery lick meant that she missed me too.

"How did you find me, you clever girl?"

She didn't get a chance to reply this time, saving my face from a layer of dog saliva, as a gleaming silver stick came flying through the air and buried itself in the hellhound's side. Panic overtook me again, as the first company that I'd had in as long as I could remember screamed in pain and rage. I controlled her, knowing that the wound would not be too serious. I pulled the silver arrow from her side and examined it, bringing back a long distant memory. Something that I hadn't thought about in a long time.

"Hunters of Artemis!" I pleaded into the night, "Please do not fire. We are not enemies."

There was no response for a few seconds and I was sure that another arrow was going to come flying from the darkness. I threw my sword to the floor. It would appear in my pocket again soon but the gesture was still important.

"I surrender, please don't shoot."

A familiar voice came from the bushes behind me, one of the many voices that I had longed for in my exile. "I never thought I'd hear you say that, Jackson."

I turned around to face my friend, my cousin, Thalia Grace. Her arms were spread, inviting me for a hug. I tried to stop myself from going. Her hunters had just shot my dog, but also I knew that it would get both of us into trouble. I was supposed to stay away from other demigods and she was supposed to stay away from boys. But soon I found myself in the warmth of her arms.

I don't know how long we were there for, it could've been any amount of time between thirty seconds and a few minutes but I ended up breaking the silence. "S'great to see you, Thals."

"You too, Seaweed Brain." She replied coyly.

Of course, our moment had to be interrupted. "Thalia Grace, step away from the boy and come over here. Now."

The voice was calm, yet it was obvious that whoever was speaking was furious. It was cold, yet I got the impression that it could be a lovely and pleasant voice if the speaker was in a different mood. I had heard the proud tones before, they belonged to an Olympian. The very Olympian who's vote had exiled me. Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt.  
Thalia looked at me apologetically as she pulled away and started to walk back to the bushes. The hunters were standing up now, their cover ruined, and I realised that I was surrounded. Somehow I didn't feel like it was me in danger, though. I just wanted to get away, escape back to my shack by the sea with the ever faithful Mrs O'Leary. But most importantly, I wanted to get away from the Goddess of the Hunt – my least favourite Olympian. My memory flicked back to that last time that I'd been in front of all of the major Gods and Goddesses.

"_All those who vote for the boy to go into exile, raise your hands now." Zeus boomed. His hand was the first to raise, followed swiftly by Ares and Hera's. There were thirteen Gods present for the vote: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hestia. Hermes was the next to raise his hand, maybe he was bitter about Luke or something, but I figured that I was relatively safe with the rest of them. I'd done most of them a personal favour at some point. Athena decided to put her hand up. The only thing which surprised me about this was that she hadn't done it earlier. The majority was still with me though, with 7 keeping their hands down. That was until Aphrodite's hand elegantly spiralled into the air. I was shocked by this after all of the flirting, all of the tea parties that she'd invited me to. She winked at me, telling me that she was still on my side but that somehow this was going to help me. It was deadly close, but I was sure that I was going to still escape. I still had Hades, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Dionysus and Hestia on my side. _

_Zeus seemed to be doing the same maths as me. "Anybody else?" He asked hopefully._

_Poseidon sighed in relief. "The vote is cast, brother. Let us rejoice our victory."_

_Artemis shifted from her slumped, bored position on her throne and her eyes looked down to the floor. Her foot shifted around some of the dust on the floor. "Wait. I also vote for his exile."_

_I looked at her in shock, memories of that day when we met the giant Atlas in battle. I had tracked her down with the rest of the team and fought the giant before taking the sky for her, a weight which could've crushed me. Now she was voting that for me to be cast from my world and thrown into the wild, isolated from everybody I loved. I couldn't speak. I had lost the vote. _

_There was silence in the room as everybody realised that the decision had been made. My father made one last attempt to save me but I knew that he was mostly powerless to help me, an odd word to use for a god. "Artemis, are you sure?"_

_Her eyes still didn't look up from the floor, unable to meet anybody else's. If she had a reason then she wasn't sharing it. Apollo was looking at her with a strange expression on his face._

My memory ended there, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. Before that particular incident, Artemis had always seemed to be one of the better Olympians to me. She was one of the few Olympians who were both moralistic and amiable. But then that vote had come and, well, you know what happened after that. I felt the eyes of tens of hunters on me, looks of disgust doubtlessly on their faces. I'd my fair share of time with the hunt and I knew their ways, the fundamental idea which was drilled into them from day one – men are pigs.  
"Come on, girl." I said quietly to my oversized pet, which the hunters had been following. The arrow didn't seem to have affected her too much, her pelt being strong enough to deflect it, but perhaps staying would be tempting fate. And so it was that I left that forest clearing and made my way back, with company, to the wooden shelter that I called home.

**Thalia's POV.**

I got on well with Artemis, don't get me wrong. She was a good friend, a relative, and also my leader. She was the perfect companion for a battle, cool-headed, calm, crafty and also a fighter to be feared. I always respected a good fighter. But that night, I felt my respect for her go down in a landslide.  
"I don't see why you can't let me talk to him." I argued stubbornly. "He's my friend, my cousin, and I haven't spoken to him for five years."

Artemis shook her head calmly, deflecting the anger which was being thrown at her. "He is a boy and an outlaw."

My stance represented the epitome of aggression – clenched fists, crossed arms and a stomping foot. "Don't make me bring this up again. Why is he an outlaw? What has he done to deserve it? Why didn't you stop them from making this happen?"

Never had I been this hostile to my leader, but if it was shocking or unsettling her then she didn't let it show. "Thalia, I am going to tell you something that I probably should've told you a very, very long time ago." She said with a deep sigh, taking a seat by the strategy table in her tent. She gestured for me to do so too. "For all of this time I have wrongly lead you to believe that I tried to stop them from outlawing your friend. But I will tell you the truth if you promise to hear me out."

I nodded stiffly.

"Your friend was winning the discussion with seven votes to Zeus' six. I didn't know what to do because in truth, Thalia, I was scared. Of all of the boys that I have ever met, Poseidon's son is probably the only one who I respect. But at the same time, I knew that he could be dangerous. I got the feeling that he was sitting on the fence between being on our side and not."

I couldn't hold myself any longer and I interrupted with an impolite outburst. "That's ridiculous! Percy would never join the Titans."

"That's not what I said, Thalia." Artemis replied with Chiron-like patience. "Please, let me finish. I felt that he only fought for us because we were better than the Titans, the lesser of two evils. Somebody with the amount of power that he had and his feelings towards us on Olympus could be dangerous. I had to make a split-second decision and I eventually sided with Zeus. My vote was the one that send your friend into exile."

"Why won't you say his name, my lady?" I asked quietly. "His name is Percy!"

An expression ghosted very briefly across her face, it looked very much to me like regret or guilt but soon it was gone. "Go and see your friend. I expect you back and ready to leave at dawn."

**Percy's POV**

Sleeping doesn't come easy when there's a massive black beast with matted fur inches away from you, or when a parade of man-hating lethal archer women are camped within range of your bed. The night was cold and my head was full or resurfacing memories which I didn't want to face. So you can see that I wasn't set to have a peaceful snooze. Mrs O'Leary next to me, however, she was doing just fine. She seemed to have forgotten about the fact that a large silver arrow had been sticking out of her only about an hour ago. I couldn't believe that I was finding myself jealous of a dog. There came a knock at the entrance to my humble abode, only around a couple of metres from where I was sleeping.

"I'm asleep." I shouted dryly.  
"Can I come in?" A voice which I instantly recognised as being Thalia's came from outside.

She seemed to take my silence as me saying, 'yes! Come in and make yourself comfortable', as she strolled in casually and took a seat by the side of my makeshift bed.

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide how ridiculously happy I was to see her. "What are you doing here?"

She seemed to take this as an insult and I realise that I probably did sound a bit hostile. "I can go if you want." She offered, standing up.

I mentally slapped myself. "No, Thalia. That came out wrong, I guess I haven't talked to another person for so long."

She smiled at me sympathetically. Or maybe it was a glare. It was difficult to see in the darkness. "Still a charmer, 'ey, Seaweed Brain?"

I flinched at the pet name that Annabeth had invented for me. More unwelcome memories flowed through my mind. "Are you not going to get into trouble for being here?" I asked, ignoring her previous statement.

She shook her head, examining the interior of my shack. "I've got permission this time, but only for a few hours. Thought you might like a chat."

I nodded gratefully. "Thank you. I've got a lot of questions."

We talked about how the world had changed in the last five years, how the camp was going, what it was like being exiled, the hunt and tonnes more. A stream of questions, complaints and suggestions flew from my mouth, excited by the fact that I didn't just have to talk to myself now. Thalia was a surprisingly good listener. But by the time that Thalia had to go back, I still hadn't asked the one question that I needed to ask.

"One last thing, Thals." I took her hand, preventing her from leaving. Not for the first time that evening, I noticed how weird it was for her to still be fifteen and me to be twenty two. "How's Annabeth?"

For the first time in the conversation, Thalia's eyes left mine. "I... I don't really know. I only see her a few times a year."

I looked at her questioningly, my expression showing her that I knew she wasn't telling the full truth.

"Look, Percy. You probably don't need to know." Her fingers began to fiddle with the bracelet on her arm, always a sign of her nervousness.

"Just tell me, Thals." I pleaded, pushing her chin up so that our eyes met again.

Thalia sighed, I almost felt guilty for making her say this, but I needed know. "She's moved on, found herself a new boyfriend and a new life. But Percy, it's not her fault. Why would she ever assume that you'll ever return?"

"Why couldn't she have come with me in the first place, eh?" I snapped angrily, losing my temper pretty fast.

Thalia shook her head as if a little disappointed in me. "That's a bit unfair, Percy. Nobody wants to be outlawed, I would've thought that you'd know that better than anyone. I bet that losing you was a really difficult choice for her."

My anger didn't waver and my grip on her hand tightened. "You know what she promised me, just before we went into Tartarus? She told me that _it doesn't matter what we do, as long as we're together. _I followed her into the worst hell on earth, she won't come with me on an extended camping trip."

Thalia looked at me, interest and pity on her face. "You're like me, now. I can feel it. You've decided that you don't want any relationships any more, haven't you?"

I simply nodded, not enquiring how she could possibly have 'felt' that. A wolf howled in the distance and we both knew that it was time for her to return to her hunters. Time for me to return to my state of loneliness.

"Go on," I said, resignedly with a gesture to the door. "Go back to _her._"

A new look washed over Thalia's face, I could almost see a light bulb pop up above her head. "I've got an idea. Come with me."

Before I could object, Thalia pulled me from the hut and towards the hunter camp. I was amazed at how well she could find her way in the pitch black – her sense of direction was obviously incredible. There was silence for a few minutes of the journey before she saw fit to actually grace me with the details of her master plan.

"_She_, is the only one who can get you out of exile." Thalia explained. "I'm going to take you to my lady. Charm her, beg her, plead with her for a re-vote, and persuade her that she voted incorrectly last time."

Thalia was very accomplished at making extremely complicated things seem easy, to persuade the stubborn goddess who hated guys that I was a good guy, that was definitely not easy. And not to mention the problem of getting me to the goddess in the first place, considering that she'd be surrounded by fellow guy-hating, long ranged killing machines.

"State your name and business!" A loud, feminine voice came from fifteen metres in front of us.

"Thalia Grace, I am a hunter like you."

"There is somebody with you."

Thalia hesitated, probably wondering whether she should try to sneak me through the camp or just tell the truth. "His name is Percy Jackson and he has an audience with our lady." She decided the latter.

"Thalia," I hissed angrily into her ear. "This isn't going to work."

"No males are allowed inside camp boundaries unless with express permission from Artemis." The watch woman told us gruffly. "Thalia, you can pass but if your friend takes another step forward then I will open fire."

"Just go," I told Thalia bitterly. Although I'd always had my misgivings with the plan, I'd really hoped that we were on to something.

She sighed and started her way forward. I reached out to grab her with the intention of rebuking her for not giving me a goodbye hug, but there was the swift swish of an arrow sailing through the air. I let out a scream as it embedded itself in my shoulder with a low thump. I could vaguely hear Thalia screaming at the watch woman and the latter trying to defend herself by saying that I'd taken a step forward. I fell to my knees, my senses dumbing.

"Was this part of the plan?" I managed to ask Thalia before my eyes closed and everything was black.

**What d'ya think? Reviews are nice – the more reviews the sooner the next chapter will be on your doorsteps.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Thanks so much for the amazing reception that the first chapter received! I was blown away by the number of favourites and follows that I got and obviously, I'm also grateful for those of you who took the time to review. I'm really not used to being spoiled so much. But has a token of my gratitude, I've worked my socks off to get this to you early. Warning though, they won't always be quite so prompt.**

**Percy's POV**

My vision was blurry as I woke up, the scene around me just a bizarre mix of colours and vague shapes which could really have been anything. There was a resonating buzz in my ears which stopped me from making out any of the sound around me. As somebody who had been forced to rely on acute senses and quick reactions many times in battle, not having these essentials made me feel fragile and weak. Less essentially, but annoying nonetheless, my tongue felt heavier than a lead weight and it was too numb for me to formulate any kind of discernible words. So basically, my faithful senses were out of action. Attempting to sit up, I was promptly shoved back into a lying position. The first signs of panic began to wash over me, it didn't feel as if I was in a friendly environment.

Stupidly, I decided to attempt to talk. "Where am I?"

If my hearing had been up to scratch, maybe I was lucky that it wasn't, I would've know that really I'd just said '_wre m ah?'. _I really didn't help me to get across the whole _'you'd better not mess with me' _vibe, and was certainly not a good first impression.

Some of the shapes around me started to shake, and a sound that was probably laughter sounded around the room. Although it was obviously humiliating to be laughed at, it was helpful to be able to tell which of the shapes were people and which were inanimate objects. One of the shapes that I had been able to make out as a person, and the only one who hadn't been laughing, approached me and muttered some words that I obviously couldn't make out. Quickly, my senses began to return – I already felt safer. The annoying buzzing sound in my ears cleared, leaving me with the well-missed sounds of life. My tongue lost its absurd heaviness, my nose cleared and my vision returned, clear as crystal.

I was in a white tent, spacious and simple, on a mattress surrounded by about five, glaring fifteen year old girls. Their t-shirts were all an identical white, matching the plainness of their surroundings. The standard issue trousers that they all wore were slightly more colourful, with an army camouflage colour decorating the thin material. Everything looked very … pure. They were, of course, the hunters. I'd had a few meetings with the hunt before, but none of the girls in the room were familiar to me. Continuing to evaluate my surroundings, I noted that I'd actually been cared for rather well. It appeared that they had washed and repaired my clothes without me even noticing, because they felt new and as smooth as silk. Clothing shops were pretty hard to come across in the middle of nowhere, so I had struggled to find replacement clothes for the ones that I'd brought with me when I'd fled from Manhattan. I was newly clean shaven, and my body felt cleaner and more healthy than it had done in as long as I could remember.

"Thank you for all of this." I thanked the hunters, figuring that this was a good opportunity to grab myself some brownie points for manners.

They sniffed at me, looking at me as if I was the intellectual equivalent of the slime that lined the ocean floor. It was fairly clear that it had not been their wish to help me in any way, they must've been told (or forced) to do it by their superiors. The thought of Artemis actually _helping_ me was so weird that I swiftly pushed it out my mind altogether. I shrugged at their lack of courtesy. If they weren't going to be civil, then I didn't see why I should have to.

A calm voice sounded to my side. "Girls, leave us."

I looked over to see the owner of the voice, alarmed by the fact that I hadn't even noticed that they were there. Artemis stood up from where she was sitting and strode to stand at the end of the mattress that I was lying on. The hunters were gone within seconds, looking all too pleased to leave the tent (probably because I was in it). I didn't let myself get too annoyed about this – I knew the ways of the hunter and I was by no means the only guy that they didn't like.

"Artemis." I growled, similarly to the way that Mrs O'Leary did when she sensed an attack. It was just me and _her. _

It annoyed me how naturally she could impose herself. I mean, she was in the form of a fifteen year old girl and I was a twenty two year old man, yet just the sight of her striding towards me made me instinctively think, _'yep, she's in charge here.'_

"You drool in your sleep." She told me simply. _Okay, _I thought. _I wasn't expecting her to say that._

I glared up at her, but she avoided my eyes. "So I've been told." I replied stiffly. "Why am I in your camp?"

"One of my hunters shot you with a poisonous arrow." The Virgin Goddess explained totally matter-of-factly. If she was sorry for the mishap, she certainly didn't show it. "If we left you, you would have died."

"If you're expecting an apology then-"

She cut my sentence short with the confidence that only somebody with extreme arrogance or self belief could've had. I wanted to believe that it was the former.

"No. But if you had died then your father would've been angry." Artemis explicated coldly.

Her voice, it was just indescribable. It couldn't have been smoother or silkier and I found myself wanting to believe absolutely everything that she said. But it wasn't working by magic or trickery, like the ways that Prometheus had been able to spread doubts in my mind, or the way that charm-speak worked. I genuinely believed that it was her normal voice. I snapped myself out of the trance and snapped some rude comment back. "Oh, silly me for expecting that you possibly cared whether I was OK."

Artemis looked down again. For a god, she suddenly didn't seem too self confident. The imposing aura that I'd just been talking about seemed to have evaporated faster than the speed of one of her arrows. "That's not what I meant."

I couldn't stand it any more, just sitting there talking to the god who'd caused me five years (and counting) of misery. The god who'd cost me everything and everyone I cared about, and for as far as I could see, no reason. I jumped off the bed with a surprising amount of energy for somebody who'd been impaled with a big, silver, poisonous arrow. The moment I was standing on my own two feet I felt dizzy and weak, but I was determined not to show this in front of my least favourite Olympian.

"I'm leaving."

She grabbed my arm. "Wait, boy. You're not strong enough. The poison is still potent enough to kill you."

I shook her off. It was obvious that her heart wasn't in it because she definitely had the power to keep hold of me. I left with one last parting blow. "For somebody like me, that's just an added bonus."

The words obviously struck her hard, making me almost feel guilty about uttering them. Telling somebody that you want to die, and that it was their fault. Well, if somebody said that to me, it would definitely cast a downer on my day. My head held high, I marched from the hunter camp and back to the beach where I felt at home.

**Thalia's POV**

Bringing Percy to the camp had put me in pretty big trouble, to put it ridiculously lightly, but I thought it was worth it. Of course, being assigned to sharpen arrows for the next six weeks was hardly the ideal situation but again, I thought that it was worth it. I was certainly willing to pay such a price to get Percy and my lady talking.

I threw another freshly sharpened arrow onto the pile with a bored exclamation. This was not the work that a lieutenant of the hunt should be doing.

I admit that the plan had hardly been one hundred percent successful. Percy being shot had obviously made me feel pretty guilty but I was sure that he'd see that I was just trying to get his life back. Gods, he deserves it. I was beginning to put a point on my fifty-fourth arrow of the day when my friend, Amy, came to liberate me from the loathsome munitions tent.

"Hey, Thalia," she uttered as she came through the tent flap, sounding strangely distant. There was an odd look on her face, a face which normally bore a perpetual smile. One of her fingers nervously twiddled with a strand of her short, blonde hair, as if she was suddenly troubled to be in my presence.

I decided to ignore it for now, it hopefully wasn't anything to do with me, and replied enthusiastically. "Amy! Have you come to free me from this hell hole?"

She still didn't return the glowing smile that I gave her. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak to you. Probably about that _boy _you brought into the camp."

Before I could reply, she'd gone from the tent. It didn't take a genius to work out what she was behaving so abnormally about. Even Percy, hardly the sharpest knife in the draw, would've known what it was that was bothering her. I sighed heavily, but knew that I shouldn't have been surprised. None of the hunters had been particular pleased with me when I'd brought an _boy _to the camp, but with a certain amount of hope I'd assumed my friend would've understood me. With another disappointed sigh, I set off to Artemis' tent.

"So then, he told me that he didn't care if his injury killed him and stormed from the camp." Artemis finished her story, looking up at me expectantly.

In my opinion, Artemis had always been the most human of all of the gods. She wasn't arrogant, she rarely used any of her powers and was quite emotive. And I've said it before, I'll say it again. She didn't understand boys. In her mind, all of them were the same – stupid, uncouth and unworthy of respect (amongst quite an impressive list of negative adjectives). I supposed that all of the gods had their weaknesses. My father's crippling arrogance, Ares' impressive stupidity, Athena's coldness. They all had one (or more) negative traits, most of them to do with arrogance, and I hoped that I could use my lady's emotional aspects against her.

"I would've thought that the answer would be obvious, my lady." I said, as if the answer was as clear as crystal in my eyes. "Let him go back to his friends and he will be happy again, he won't bear a grudge against you any more."

She shook her head. If her lieutenant had brought this up a few years ago, then she probably would have agreed. But it was too late now. If anything, the boy had been much safer to the gods before his exile. His period of isolation had hardly done anything to make him love us Olympians.

"It's not as simple as that, my girl. I still believe that he is dangerous. And even though I am grateful that he took the sky from me a few years ago, my wish that Olympus stays calm outweighs my gratitude."

I sighed, feeling extremely rare tears emerge at my eyes. Of all of the things that could've happened, I definitely hadn't wanted it to come to this. "Then I resign my place as hunter with immediate effect, my lady. Percy needs a friend, and if you're not going to act on it then I will have to."

The Goddess of the Hunt was shocked. Astounded. Surprised. (Insert more synonyms here). A hunter giving up her immortality was almost unheard of. Sure, a few hunters had left their positions before. That was natural – it wasn't a life for everyone. What surprised Artemis was that normally they'd been the stupid, simple, and weak-minded girls who had given up. Thalia was a battle hardened and sensible hunter, one of the best that the hunt had ever been graced with. And she was leaving the hunt... for a _boy?_

As ever though, the goddess stayed calm and tried to rescue the situation. "You should be very careful about doing that, Thalia. You'd lose your immortality, your hunter friends and everything that I know you love about being a part of this group. And I'd lose a very fine lieutenant. Would you sacrifice all of this for an outlaw?"

Finally, I let the tears run completely down my cheeks. The hunt had been my life for years now, but I knew when sacrifices had to be made. I didn't see myself as somebody who stood by and watched as injustice thrived. History was made up of people who had sacrificed things, sometimes even their own lives, to bring balance. Standing there in front of the short, shrewd faced goddess I let it all out. "I can't allow the greatest demigod in the Greek history be outlawed because of the paranoia of the Olympians."

The sky rumbled fiercely at the insult to the gods but defiantly, I didn't care. Percy had never been afraid to stand up to them. Artemis was finally left speechless, the outburst of her most loyal hunter surprising her to the point of an outburst of her own.

"I'm sorry, my lady." I choked. "I wouldn't do this unless I could think of any other way to persuade you that Percy is innocent."

For the second time that morning, a person who Artemis was talking to turned their back on her and walked out of the tent.

As I walked from the camp, a small bag of my few belongings over my shoulder, I tried to take in everything that I loved about the hunt, knowing that I would possibly never experience it again. The rows of pearly white tents, which left us living barely metres from our best friends. And then there were the various camp fires magically burning all through the day, making us feel safe and at home. I don't know how they managed to have that effect on us, but they inexplicably did and needless to say, I'd miss them. I'd definitely be sad to leave the archery ranges behind, where I'd loved to go and feel the unparalled feeling of satisfaction when a silver arrow landed in the middle of a target with a soft thud. Maybe the most beautiful thing about the life was the nature that was always around us – whether we were camping in a forest, or a desert, or by a river, or wherever, there was always the calmness that I could only feel in such a natural environment. Infinitely better than the loud, bustling, fake cities that I'd never felt quite at home in. I reminisced wistfully. My time with the hunt had been the best years of my life – better than my time at camp half-blood, even better than those years that I'd spent with Luke and Annabeth (before the former was a crazy, murderous killing machine). As I made my way towards the exit, I noticed that some of the other hunters had assembled to see me go. I hadn't had a chance to tell any of them about the situation behind my departure, so I guessed that they assumed that I was being kicked out because of the incident with Percy the night before. I saw Amy in the crowd, her finger still twiddling with the tomboyish blonde hair that she'd chosen as her style. Was I expecting to see remorse or any kind of sadness on her friendly, appealing face? If I was, I was certainly disappointed. There was only a stony, set expression, displaying a total lack of feeling or affection. This only made me sniffle more as I wandered through the camp exit. I didn't look back. I couldn't.

"Stop crying, dammit!" I shouted at myself, trying to remind myself who I was. I was Thalia Grace (dammit I hate my surname)- I crushed barbie dolls by day and killed monsters by night. My punk hair was so sharp that it threatened low-flying birds. My glare could stop hearts. And I definitely, unquestionably, never, ever cried.

**Artemis' POV**

I'm a goddess, and a quick-thinking one at that, which means that I don't just sit and mope around after something bad has happened. I get up on my feet and sort it out, much in the same way that Thalia had been known to do. Her undying, everlastic loyalty to her friends was maybe something that I would never be able to understand. Her resignation really did affect me, it shocked me into action. That had been the result that she'd been looking for and I took some satisfaction in believing that I was making her sacrifice more worthwhile. It had actually been a devilishly cunning move, because for it had got me thinking about the boy and the first time I realised that maybe I hadn't been totally fair towards him. You should know that it was very, very, very (there should be more verys) rare that a God apologised to a mortal, it was even rarer that they corrected their wrongdoings and made amends. But that was exactly what I was going to do, which is how I found myself outside the boy's hut about five seconds after Thalia had left my tent (I told you I was quick-thinking.)

Looking at what he'd managed to build for himself, I had to admit that I was impressed by his set up. He had a firm, seemingly weather proof shack, a steady fire with makeshift cooking equipment and home made chairs on the exterior of the hut. I imagined him sitting there in the evenings, one chair always empty as if he was expecting somebody to come and join him. The thought saddened me.

Impressively, he'd also chosen a perfect location to set up camp, something that my trainee hunters had always struggled to get their heads round. I'd never thought of him as a boy with good logic, sense and survival instincts. To me, he'd always just been a somebody who could wield a sword – an Ares type. Maybe there was more to him than met the eye.

With a deep breath, I knocked on the rough bark of the hut's entrance. If all went well then I would soon be welcoming him as the newest member of the hunt.

**That's another chapter done. I really do think that reviews are very important – the quicker you tell me what I'm doing right or wrong, the quicker I can eradicate any wrongdoings and do more of the good stuff. Also, it really gets me motivated to get another chapter out. If I feel like people aren't putting in the effort that I am then I can get frustrated and give up the story. I don't want that to happen and hopefully you don't either.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, keep your eyes peeled for more.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**I'm building up some serious momentum here. Warning though, for some of you, the content of this chapter might be a bit disappointed. But I don't want to rush anything, so hopefully you'll understand. I won't give any more away, I doubt that anybody's reading this anyway so what the heck - cats are amazing creatures aren't they? and superman etcetera blah blah squark. So without any further ado, let's get on with the chapter.**

**Artemis' POV  
**A goddess did not get ignored. Ever. It just didn't happen. In fact, I literally couldn't remember the last time that it happened to me, and my memory's usually pretty good. You see, normally, people were falling over backwards to get my attention. They'd scream, shout, sacrifice animals, throw food into the fire, even kill their own daughters to get my blessing. Just for the record, I didn't advocate the whole killing daughter thing, I think people decided that I liked that kind of thing after the whole Trojan thing (read up about Clytemnestra). But then again, the Son of Poseidon wasn't like most people I'd ever met. It undeniably miffed me a little bit, however, when he didn't reply to my knock on the door. Not hearing me once could have been a mistake. Twice was just careless. But three times? It didn't take Athena to work out that he simply didn't want to talk to me. However annoyed, I still couldn't help but admire his handiwork in the construction of his shelter, though. Although the hut was frankly tiny, it was strangely attractive in an odd kind of way. It just looked so … natural. I of all people appreciated things that earthly beauty.

Realising that I had been stood outside the hut for at least five minutes, I decided that I'd given him fair warning. "Boy," I called in authoritatively. "I know that you're in there. I'm coming in. Don't say that I didn't give you ample warning."  
I walked through the doorway expecting to see the glaring eyes of a certain demigod. I didn't.

The Son of Poseidon lay almost motionless on the floor, the only reassuring movements coming from chest spasms at irregular intervals. White froth had gathered and dried at his mouth, facing me with the possibility that he could've been lying there for quite some while. Grabbing his wrist indelicately, I checked his pulse for clues to how long he had left. There was almost no beat, just a weak one barely every five seconds. The poison that I had invented was working with ruthless efficiency as it always had. This was one of the rare occasions when it wasn't helping me, though. From experience I knew that it would soon totally shut down the body's major organs, the point being that even the slightest arrow wound would prove to be fatal. It was too late to apply the antidote now and once again I had to rely on the quickness of my head to save the situation.

I looked up to the sky. "Apollo," I uttered loudly, attempting to summon my pest of a brother. "I need you."

I knew that he'd be here within a few seconds, whether he was tied up with something important or not. For him, nothing would trump the opportunity to tease me about the fact that I'd said I needed him. That should put the effort which I was putting into saving him into perspective. My piercing eyes peered down again at the dying demigod.

"Hang in there, boy." I said quietly. He hated me, but I still didn't want to him die. Preferably, I didn't want to see him hurt or injured at all. These thoughts were quickly wiped from my mind, persuading myself that the concern was just because I still owed him a debt of honour.

Waiting for my brother, I absent-mindedly examined the interior of the shack. It was as well set up as it looked on the outside, with just the bare essentials for survival present. A functional chair, some animal pelts which he would've had to skin from some of the forest creatures himself, and a soft mattress made stuffed with furs. I had to admit that it was all very sensible and well organised, for a _boy. _I think what struck me most, however, was the left wall of the shelter. The wall was covered in clear scratches into the wood, a massive tally chart with an uncountable number of dashes. Evidently, he'd been putting one slash into the wood for every day that he'd been there. I'm sure that seeing that wall was when I decided that his exile had to end. The sheer number of gashes, the hope of eventual freedom that they implied, they really put the amount of time that the young man had spent away from civilization into perspective. It was a long, long time.

A loud, resonating crack sounded from outside and I sighed, going out to meet my omni-annoying twin brother – Apollo. He was the godof prophecy, music, medicine, and poetry and he looked like he knew it as he strolled across the sand of the beach, a teasing, smug smile plastered across his face as if he was saving a damsel in distress. Now let me make one thing abundantly clear – I am not a damsel in distress. He couldn't have looked more casual if he'd tried (he probably had tried), donning a colourful, open shirt and beach shorts, as if he'd just come there for a swim.

He ran a hand through his blonde, curly hair in the way that Ares would do. The difference was that the War God did it arrogantly. My ever so slightly younger brother (although he constantly argued with me about this) was doing it for the express purpose of annoying me. "You _needed _me, sis'?"

I shuddered at his tone, the only thing stopping me from striking him being the memory of the young half-blood dying in his shack. My own pride would have to suffer this once. I just rolled my eyes as if he didn't bother me at all. "Just follow me."

Without any further words, I led him into the simple shack and to the dying boy, who had once been referred to as the 'Saviour of Olympus'.

**Thalia's POV**

When I needed to let my anger out, I attacked things. If I could just hack or shoot away for long enough then eventually, any problems would fade away. Small problems, like loosing a set of keys, or big problems like the once I was faced with now, they all had the same antidote as far I was concerned. I was pretty sure that leaving the hunters was a big problem - I'd sent myself to live with an outcast, essentially making me one too, and although I loved Percy as a friend, we had a fair history of getting on each other's nerves. The end results of our clashes was never particularly pretty, normally involving a few smoking craters in the ground and a hurricane of water. So it really wasn't the ideal situation, and therefore a problem. Today's unfortunate victims of my problem? A small maple tree, now so covered in arrows that it could've been an oddly shaped hedgehog, and a berry bush which had unfortunately found itself directly in the way of my smoking spear and hunting knives. Of course, I did feel the irony of a hunter (or ex hunter, I supposed) pulverising the very nature that we were supposed to be respectful towards. But as ever, I felt much better afterwards and was relatively sure that I could go back to Percy without bursting into tears (or blasting him with a lightning bolt). I heard a hoarse ruffing behind me and turned to see the familiar shape of Percy's pet killing machine, Mrs Leery or something like that. I hadn't had the pleasure of its company very often but was familiar with its ways after seeing it rip apart a squadron of enemy creatures back in the Battle for Manhattan. I'm told that she's a gentle creature. It barked again and ran off, looking back expectantly as if to beckon for me to follow.

I found myself talking to it. "Give me a second, I just need to get my arrows." I explained sincerely. Why was I talking to a dog? I instinctively looked around. _Good, _I thought, _Nobody saw._

I started to pluck the arrows from the tree, one by one. I knew very well that arrows were brittle and I didn't want to risk breaking any, especially now that I knew how tedious they were to sharpen. _Not that I need them any more, _I told myself glumly. Mrs Cheerio barked at me behind me and I looked around to send one of my death glares at it. I could swear that it was looking at me as if I was stupid. It barked again.

I stopped plucking arrows from the tree. "Fine!" I shouted, talking to the dog again. "I'll come with you, but this had better be important. I know a damn good Jamie Oliver recipe for Hell hound soup."

It barked at me once more, somehow giving me the strange idea that it could understand exactly what I was saying. Before I could consider the weird thought any further, it bounded off, forcing me to follow at my fastest sprint to keep up. It wasn't long before I realised that it was taking me to the beach and a ghostly chill ran through me. I should've worked it out before! If Percy's hellhound was trying to make me follow it, then it should've been obvious that Percy needed me! I picked up my pace.

**Artemis' POV**

"Man, Artemis!" Apollo cried in shock, "What's happened in here? Wait, don't tell me. I don't even want to know."

I just wanted to scream at him to tell him to get on with it, but I kept my composure. "One of my hunters shot him with a poisonous arrow last night. I found him like this about two minutes ago. Now can you get on with it? You are supposed to be the God of Medicine."

Apollo knelt down and placed his head on the boy's chest. "Yes, but I'm not the God of Miracles. Young Percy here'll be dead in a couple of minutes and this is no basic bang-on-a-plaster job. Your poisonous arrows are pretty tricky."

For perhaps the first time, I wasn't sure that the demigod was going to make it. I had been told before that my skin was pale, but I'm pretty sure it got a bit paler at that thought. Most annoyingly, though, I still didn't know why. "I was just coming to give him the antidote now. The poison normally takes forty eight hours to actually kill."

Apollo tutted as if my mistake had just been a silly, easily fixable error, but I could see that this confidence was just a bluff. He'd lost the swagger and the cockiness that he'd brought into the room.

He reached inside his shirt pocket and brought out a flask that would never have been able to fit there without magic. "I think this could save him."

I tucked my auburn hair behind my ears, wishing that it was in a ponytail as I preferred. "What' is it?"

My twin looked at me as if he already knew that he wouldn't like his answer. "Last resort. It will either clear his system of anything bad, or his body will react badly to it and he will die."

My silver eyes bore into his. I knew that if he could think of any other option then he would be doing it. I didn't like the idea of gambling with anybody's life, even a _boy's, _but I'd said it myself, he was the God of Medicine. I nodded for him to go ahead, unable to speak. I was so concentrated on what was happening that I barely heard the thunderous bounds of a massive creature outside, swiftly followed by a panting girl's exhausted voice.

"What's... going... on?" Thalia asked between gasps for oxygen. We looked each other in the eye and I could see at that point that there was no bad blood between us. She'd just been trying to help her friend, and I respected that decision. I would've given her a rare smile if it wasn't for urgency and stress of the situation.

"We are about to see the rise, or fall, of young Percy here." Apollo explained, carefully pouring the medicine into Percy's mouth. His voice was still not quite sincere – was my brother ever totally serious about _anything_?

Thalia looked horrified. "What?" She gawked in utter disbelief.

I gave her a sympathetic look. "You've seen the effects of our poisonous arrows first hand. This is the only chance we have of saving the boy."

We both looked at Apollo, half expecting him to make some jokey remark about something or other but to his credit, he was quite focused on the task at hand.

"If Percy survives this, what's going to happen to him?" Thalia asked me. I guessed that she just wanted to talk about something, anything, to quell her nervousness. Just about anything was better than watching my twin flip a coin over the boy's death (apart from, at a push, Apollo's dire poetry).

I hesitated for a second, knowing exactly what she wanted me to say. "I think," I said slowly, "That we will owe him somewhat after this, considering that it was one of our hunters who caused this. But you understand that I cannot take him out of exile just like that, there will have to be a re-vote. And in my experience of Olympus, things like that take a very long time to go through."

"You're certainly right about that," Apollo gave a short laugh, not looking up from what he was doing.

Thalia and I barked at him to concentrate.

"If Percy gets his freedom, do you think that there will be a space for me in the hunt?" My ex lieutenant asked me, almost daring me to say no.

I had no intention of doing so. "I need a new lieutenant. Can you think of anybody who'd be suitable for the job?"

Thalia beamed at me, suddenly making the situation seem a whole lot lighter. I remembered how mortified I'd felt upon Zoe's death – I'd been described afterwards as glowing silver. Well, the loss of Thalia earlier had hurt me almost as much. Maybe, in an odd way, it felt even worse when they quit rather than died, because they were leaving of their own volition. I was glad to have her back on the team.

My bright patch didn't last very long.

"Now's the moment of truth!" Apollo grinned dramatically, throwing the now empty flask to his side carelessly. He was speaking as if this was a game show. "And he's going to...die. He's dead."

Apollo's voice had suddenly lost all of its humour, as if he had never even thought it possible that his patient could've died. I inexplicably felt a cold dagger of sadness plunge into me – incomprehensibly a feeling as painful as when I lost somebody close to me. My whole body just felt weak, shocked, empty. It just didn't make sense – the boy had hated me.

"What do you mean?" Thalia growled beside me. I'd watched her lose her friends a fair few times during her years in the hunt, and every time she had the same reaction. First of all there was anger, where she'd blame the dead person and call them selfish for passing. Then there was a stage of denial, and finally she would get mournful and tears were normally spilled.

Apollo shrugged his shoulders sadly. "His pulse has stopped. He's dead."

There was a sudden roar from the sea outside, a tidal wave of pure power emerging from the churning water and destructively charging in the opposite direction to the beach. Any island which got in the way of such a tsunami would be obliterated.

I spoke for the first time since Apollo had announced the boy's death. "Have you tried a mortal revival method? I think they call it CPR."

My twin seemed to consider the suggestion before giving a swift nod of curious approval, as if he didn't think that it would work but it would be fun to try. "You know more about mortal stuff than me, sis'"

He gestured for me to go ahead and do it. My first reaction was 'no way'. I imagined pressing my lips to that _boy's._ The thought was repulsive. He was a _boy! _But then I saw Thalia, who was looking at me with a new expression on her face. A new found hope.

"Fine." I agreed, not even bothering to stop a grimace from spreading over my face.

I knelt down next to the boy and pressed my mouth against his, my hands rapidly compressing his chest as I breathed in and out. I imagined my immature twin laughing behind me, but the thought only spurred me on as I channelled my annoyance into work and tried to get it over with quickly. Zeus knows how long I was doing it for, it certainly seemed like a long time to me.

"We've done it!" Apollo shouted triumphantly, "Circulation is restored! I'll take it from here, sis'."

I pulled away from the boy and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Thalia was looking at me with an expression of unlimited gratitude. In a very un-goddess like manner, I unceremoniously flopped back to lean against the wall of the shack and closed my eyes.

**Percy's POV**

It's difficult to describe death, especially if you've only experienced a few minutes of it, but I did feel a few interesting things. There was the feeling of lightness and liberation, as if a massive burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I could hear no sound, there was total silence. I felt like my spirit was being taken lifted from my body. A couple more moments, and Hermes would have arrived to transport me to the underworld. But suddenly, there was a jolt and my soul was wrenched back to my body. Milliseconds after, my eyes opened and I knew that life had taken me back.

"Wow." I breathed. What I'd just experienced would've been enough to awe anyone, especially seeing as it was something that even the gods hadn't felt.

I was immediately tacked in a bear hug by Thalia, her spiky black hair threatening to stab my face - who would've known that dying made you so popular?

"Don't you _ever _pull a stunt like that on me again, understand?" Thalia threatened blazingly, her eyes fiery enough to subdue the titans. She seemed to be almost suggesting that I'd died intentionally just to spite her.

I laughed weakly. "I wasn't planning on it."

Zeus' daughter finally pulled away and I gasped for air. Needless to say, the hug had been quite tight. I looked around the suddenly very packed shack and raised my eyebrows when I saw Apollo. "What are you doing here, Lord Apollo?"

His eyebrows did the same mine. "Saving your bacon, as usual. I've already started planning a poem, I thought that it was going to go something along the lines of-"

"I'm sure that it will be brilliant." I cut the friendly god short. Poetry had never been an interest of mine at the best of times and Apollo's poetry had a tendency of making me want to bang my head against a wall. "Thank you for saving me, my lord."

We shared a fist pump. Apollo had always been one of my favourite gods, a good friend and a seemingly regular, normal, down-to-earth guy. Plus he'd never voted for my death or punishment in the Olympic Court. That already put him above most of the gods on my list.

He shot me a trademark grin. "Don't thank me. Well, I mean, you can if you want, but it was actually my little sis' who did all of the work."

"I thought she was older than you?" I asked innocently, knowing full well that it was a topic of hot debate between the two of them. Before he could argue with me, I turned to the goddess of the hunt.

"Thank you, my lady." I told her sincerely. I hoped that there was no hint of the old venom in my voice. "I owe you one."

She shook her head. "No, now we're even."

I instantly understood that she had recognised that she had been wrong to exile me, and that this was her way of apologising. We smiled at each other for the first time ever and I could not help but notice how stupidly beautiful she was. From the first strand of her silky, auburn hair on her fifteen year old form to her smooth, long legs capped with petite feet, she was mindbogglingly stunning. _Just an innocent thought, _I reminded myself. _Nothing wrong with that, right?"_

**Another chapter done, quite a long one too. Pretty darn dramatic – I bet all of you were absolutely sure that Percy was going to die in the third chapter of the story. Either way, hope you enjoyed it enough to leave a review and I'll see you all soon.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**As usual guys, thanks for the amazing reactions. I definitely do take all of the reviews into account, but obviously be aware that not everybody wants the same thing and I can't please everybody. So if I don't fulfil your wish, I apologise but it's nothing personal. When all of the reviews have come in for this chapter, I will reply to every single one of them with a review of my own.**

**Percy's POV**

One thing that I knew about life, death and battle is that it was very difficult to bear a grudge against somebody who had saved your life. Of all people, I should've known that best. My life had been saved by my friends on more occasions than I'd liked to admit (I'm pretty sure that Annabeth knew the exact figure) and it was no different this time as I felt half a decade of pure hatred evaporate into thin air when I looked at her.

Apollo coughed to grab my attention. "Am I not deserving of your eternal gratitude too?"

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Artemis roll her eyes in despair at her younger brother's antics before Thalia came over to talk to her in a hushed, secretive tone.

I realised that I'd been leaving Apollo hanging. "Yeah, sorry. Thanks man."

The goddess and my best female friend discreetly left the tent, their 'hunter talk' obviously not to be heard by the male ears of me and the immature god. Apollo notice that they'd gone too and he came to sit next to me, one of the first serious looks I'd ever seen from him on his normally jovial face.

"Why does my sister like you so much?"

I snorted, waiting for the god to crack a trademark smile and say _'tricked you!'_ but strangely, it didn't happen. There was not a glint of humour in his deep eyes. Either he was the best actor that I'd ever seen, or he was actually asking me a genuine question.

"You're kidding, right?" I barked a short laugh.

He continued to stare at me stonily, his head shaking slowly. _Okay, _I thought. _He isn't joking._

"Seriously, man. I thought she hated me!" I told him honestly, still half expecting him to shout _'April Fool!'. _For all I knew, it could've been the first of May. Losing track of the date wasn't difficult for somebody in my position.

Apollo's evaluation of me finished. "Yes, you're telling the truth. You really don't know, do you?"

I was really freaking out now, this was so totally unlike Apollo that I almost thought that he was an imposter. Apollo was the god who spent his day driving around in cool cars and flirting with pretty girls. The guy in front of me was acting less humorously than Athena did, and believe me, she was hardly a barrel of laughs. I tried to recall seeing the Goddess of Wisdom smile but unsurprisingly nothing sprang to mind.

"What don't I know? Does she actually like me?" The questions sprang from my mouth like arrows from a bow. "She hates me, doesn't she?"

The God of Medicine (amongst other duties) seemed to consider whether he should be telling me about this. "Perhaps I had better not, it will just confuse you." He checked the golden Rolex on his wrist before looking up at me apologetically. "Sorry, Percy. The sun needs to come down."

Trying not to show the disappointment and frustration that was washing over me, I shared another fist pump with him and sent him a fake smile. "Okay, man. I'll see you soon, maybe?"

"Hopefully." Apollo replied, but he didn't seem too confident. "But I doubt that Zeus'll be happy about it." He walked towards the door before turning back one last time. "I'm sorry for not answering your questions, Percy, but just consider this. She sent her hunters to find you after you went missing a few years ago. She just revived you, even though it involved pressing her mouth against yours in an intimate way. I've never seen that from my sister before – she's like the girl who never grew out of fearing that boys carry some kind of infection. And when she comes back, I think that she will have an offer for you. I beg for you to consider it wisely though, Percy. On the surface it will look great, but … well. I'll leave it up to you when it happens."

He hadn't done a great job of making himself clearer. If anything, I was much more confused at that point than I had been before he'd gone off on that last tangent. I nodded my thanks to him and promised that I'd think about what he said before he vanished in a blinding flash of light.

**Thalia's POV**

"This situation is unique." Artemis explained to me as we strolled carelessly along the beach. "I have never had a hunter of your quality and loyalty leave the group."

I nodded appreciatively at the praise. "Thank you, but you know that I cannot return until I feel that my friend is in a good position."

"I'm afraid that it can't be that simple." Artemis sighed with enough emotion that I really did feel like she cared. "The girls grow impatient – we have already stayed here for longer than intended. And I may not be able to get another vote for many weeks unless I call an emergency council, but for that there would actually have to be an emergency. So I ask you to take a leap of faith and trust me to sort the boy out in the long run."

Talk about tough decisions. I hated those. The Goddess looked at my sympathetically and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Of course," she said suggestively, "There is another option."

I looked at her blankly, this miracle option obviously not as obvious as she seemed to think.

"If you pledge to join the hunt again, right here and now, I will do something that I have never done before." She explained dramatically, as if building up to a massive crescendo. "I will invite the boy to join the hunt until the vote can go through."

Yay. Another decision. Surely he wouldn't turn down _another _chance at immortality, and a rare opportunity to have some seemed like a better opportunity than the first, seeing as I could potentially return to my position before the other girls found out that I'd ever left, and there was a good chance that Percy would come with me.

"I'll give you some time to think about it," she gently prompted, "But you can't get away from it for very long. We will leave tonight, and if you're going to return then you and your friend _must _be ready by sunset."

I made the decision. It just seemed like the right thing to do. "No, don't worry. I hereby re-pledge my allegiance to you, on the condition that you complete your side of the deal."

Artemis beamed at me, one of the rare real smiles that I had seen her do. In the hut earlier I had noticed Percy staring at the goddess, obviously entranced by her intrinsic beauty. And looking at her now, it was hard to disagree. When she smiled, there was surely nobody who could match her stunning appearance. Her eyes twinkled like the stars in the night sky, complementing the rest of her natural features well. Looking at her you automatically saw an undeniably cunning, shrewd and simple girl who neither knew nor cared about her beauty.

"Let's go and see about your friend, then."

**Percy's POV**

For the first time in five years, I was glad to be alone. I didn't mind the fact that I was by myself on the beautiful beach with an empty, hopeful chair beside me, even though I had felt bitter about it every night since my exile. You see, for once I actually had something new to think about. A lot to think about. Did Artemis really like me as much as Apollo seemed to think? I mean, siblings did tend to know that kind of thing, but really? I'd always hoped that she respected me, that was my aim with all of the gods, but actually liking me had always seemed out of the question considering her attitude to all boys. And then there had been the god's parting warning, about an offer that I was supposedly going to receive. He really couldn't have been more cryptic if he'd tried to give me the message in a crossword. _Five years with nothing to think about and then, all of a sudden enough to make my head blow up. _I mentally fumed.

"Just my luck." I laughed out loud. I don't know why I was chuckling really – there wasn't anything particularly funny about the situation.

I jumped as a male voiced sounded behind me. "So the rumours are true, you really have gone crazy."

The voice was a slow drawl, drawn out as if the speaker just loved to listen to his own voice. It was void of any positive emotion – only aggression and hostility could be heard in his flat tone. I closed my eyes and tried to keep my cool. This guy always got on my nerves, to put it lightly.

"What are you doing here, Ares?" I asked monotonously. He thrived on the anger that he caused in me, got stronger from it, and I was determined to not give him that advantage. He walked around to sit in the chair next to me, the one which nobody had ever used. I'd always kind of hoped that the person to use that chair would be my life companion, or even just somebody who had come to keep me company. My suspicions were that Ares was not here to be my new life companion, nor was he here for the latest gossip. A hand with long, calloused fingers ran through his black punk hair arrogantly – I was almost expecting him to get a mirror out to admire himself.

When he had settled down and was satisfied that his hair was immaculately imposing, I had the pleasure of hearing his voice again. "We on Olympus noticed that you've been having some visitors recently, and I am here to, ah, _encourage _you to not break the laws of your exile any further."

The way that he said 'encourage' made me instantly realise that what he really meant was 'torture and kill'. Either that or I was just really paranoid. "So you're the new errand boy for the gods, eh, Ares?" I laughed mockingly.

He let out a low growl, his eyes turning even darker than they had been before. Step one had been successful – an annoyed Ares was liable to act even more stupidly than usual. Sensing my advantage, I continued. "I suppose that with no wars around, there's not much for you to do. And it must be difficult to get yourself anything other than menial tasks with a brain the size of yours."

His growl turned into a leer, making me wondering if I'd pushed him a little too far. "I _volunteered_ to do this. You see, the Gods have grown tired of keeping you here, a constant worry on their minds. It has been decided by the council that we should, in Zeus' own words, 'sort out this problem once and for all'. Even your father didn't argue this time."

He drew his sword, an arm's length of well worn stygian iron. It looked like a rather simple weapon, but any weapon in Ares' hands was a lethal one. Tens of notches ran down the side of the blade, each other the mark from where it had crunched against bone. The sheer number of them was intimidating. I was too weak to fight, even in my own domain, seeing as I'd just come back from the dead. But I wanted to attack him. I wanted to smash that perpetually arrogant face into itself until he took back what he'd said about my dad. It wasn't even so much that I wanted to prove him wrong – it was more that I was worried that he was telling the truth.

I played the old 'unarmed soldier' wild card. "Would you really kill a defenceless guy? You of all people should know the rules of war."

It was a desperate ploy and we both knew it. "Nice try," he sneered obnoxiously, "But I'm not going to let you off the hook this time."

He brought his sword up and swung in a barely visible motion, the movement so quick that I could almost see vapour trails being produced. Only my reactions kept me in the game as I rolled out of the way, leaving the sword to split through the wood of the chair that I had been sitting on. It probably wasn't totally fair to have gone five years without fighting so much as an annoying fly, and then suddenly having to bout for my life with the person who was supposed to be the most accomplished fighter in the world. Talk about getting thrown in the deep end. As he wrenched his sword from the splitting wood, I ran to the sea. The only chance that I could possibly have in this fight would be if I used the water. Ares, however, had other ideas as he threw his sword with a ferocious roar. It rotated like a boomerang, speeding towards me faster than a pegasus on its way to a doughnut store. Again, my slightly rusty instincts forced me to the floor, the blade coming so close that it gave me an unwanted haircut.  
_Never seen a sword used like that before, _I thought to myself.

I wrenched myself up from the floor, my face covered in wet sand, but the War God had managed to catch up and he kicked me in the opposite direction. I flew like a rag doll, my energy now well and truly depleted. I simply wasn't ready to fight yet. My attempts to lift myself from the ground failed, I just couldn't summon the power that I needed to do it. Ares strolled towards me slowly, the walk of a man who thought that he had all of the time in the world. His sword very helpfully reappeared in his hand.

_Riptide, _I concentrated all of my thoughts on my trust pen/killing machine. _I'll never need you more than I do right now._

Since my exile, the pen had lost much of its magic. It could still function as a sword but it hadn't appeared in my pocket for a long, long time. My final hope was that it could sense my danger and find its way to me once more. But I needed time.

"Look at yourself, Ares." I spat at the smirking god. "This isn't a fair fight. About one hour ago I was dead, now you're forcing me to duel?"

He continued to smirk. "Lesson number one, kid. Always be ready."

I felt the familiar light weight of a ballpoint pen appear in my pocket. I just needed a little bit more time, but at least I had a plan. It relied quite a lot on Ares' stupidity, but it was a plan be fair, any plan reliant on Ares' stupidity was going to be a safe bet.

"Well then at least allow me to have my final request." I asked, speaking as if I was admitting defeat. "Let me write a quick note to my mother."

His arrogance and his stupidity did indeed end up as his downfall. He'd thought that he'd already won, and failed to recognise the connection between my pen and the sword that it could turn into. I took the pen from my pocket.

"Do you have any paper?" I asked innocently.

He started to rummage around in his pockets. "Yeah, somewhere in here."

I saw my opportunity, only an idiot wouldn't have, as I activated the sword feature on the pen and swung it at his stomach in a swift, smooth motion. There was the familiar feeling of blade meeting flesh and he gasped, his eyes betraying disbelief as he lost the duel. He hadn't lost down to being the inferior swordsman – he'd lost because he hadn't finished the job.

"That... was …. hardly …. chivalrous." He gasped, his hand clutching at his stomach. I wondered how long it would be before he had healed. Probably not long – I hadn't had the strength to take a big swing and as a result, the wound had not been a deep one.

I couldn't resist in employing some arrogance of my own. "Lesson number one, kid." I imitated his voice crudely. "Always be ready."

Hatred blazed like Greek fire in his eyes.

"What is going on here?" We heard the authoritative voice of Artemis come from ten metres down the beach. Her tone was angry, furious even. I took one look at her and collapsed into the sand. The encounter had taken rather a lot out of me, but finally I felt safe under the Goddess of the Hunt's watchful eye.

I'd blacked out a fair few times in the last twenty four hours and that time was no, the last thing that I heard being the fearsome goddess screaming at the arrogant War God. A smug smile of victory on my face, I passed out once more.  
_

**Artemis' POV**

"What on earth has happened here, Ares?" I asked through frustratedly gritted teeth. It was taking a lot of willpower to keep my cool. "He's supposed to be on the mend."

Ares raised his hands defensively. "I just came along to see how the kid was, and he attacked me!"

Thalia, who was carefully inspecting the boy for any damage, snorted beside me. "Sorry, Ares. Didn't realise that you and Percy were that close."

She gave me a brief summary of their history, not a particularly nice one, and we looked at the War God for an explanation. Was he really so violent that he would come to try to kill a weak, out-of-practice demigod? Or was he really telling the truth in that the boy had turned on him?

Nothing seemed to be able to wipe the smirk off his face. "Chill, Artemis. If it wasn't for you then I wouldn't be here anyway."

It seemed that he had given up on his previous story, perhaps realising how ridiculously weak it was. My eyebrows unwittingly came down and I betrayed my confusion, never a good move in an argument like this seeing as it made him confident that he had the high ground.

"You and the girl have been spending time with the outlaw." He continued impatiently, as if he wanted to start stabbing things again. "By letting you do this, Jackson has broken the laws of his exile. He was told that he _had _to stay in solitary."

"So as punishment, you decided that you should kill him?" Thalia spat distastefully. I was pretty sure that at that point in time, she was pretty keen to grab my brother and cut him up into little pieces. She was very protective of her friends.

Ares yawned, deflecting her anger. "Strangely, it wasn't actually my idea. I'd totally forgotten about the little runt until Zeus gave me this task. I was just happy to help."

Zeus! I couldn't believe it. I'd thought that he was better than that, that he'd grown up since the old days when he'd turned demigods into trees, or had them horribly executed, for his own personal entertainment. And to make it worse, I was sure that Ares wasn't lying this time – he was pretty easy to read – which just meant that I couldn't even doubt him. My father had always had some kind of problem with the boy (not that I could go totally blameless on that front) and seemed to have a habit of trying to get him killed whenever the opportunity arose but even I had assumed that he'd have stopped when the boy was exiled.

I must've looked pretty angry because Thalia was looking at me weirdly, as if I'd turned into an elephant or a big smelly boot. "Ares, I swear if you don't answer me then I _will _turnyou into an ugly dung beetle. So tell me, was there a vote for this before the Olympian Council?"

Ares did well to respond to my query because with the fury that I was feeling at that point, I would've had no problem with unleashing my wrath upon him. His tone was noticeably less sure of itself when he answered. "No, it was a decision between me and Zeus."

I turned to Thalia, who instinctively backed away from my furious glare. "Thalia, I am going to have to go to Olympus. I want you to continue the ongoing mission, and for the sake of the girls you _must _leave this evening."

Not giving her a chance to ask any questions, I grabbed the weakened Ares (who was still leaking a bit of golden ichor from his stomach) by the scruff of his neck and transported us to Olympus with a bright, blinding flash.

**That's it for the fourth chapter, folks. As I was writing this, my story crossed the two thousand views milestone which has made me very happy, and I am currently have 52 favourites and 73 followers. Hopefully those numbers will have gone up even further by the time this is posted, but I'd like to thank all of you guys for the continued support because this story has already had more success than even my wildest dreams permitted me to hope for. **

**I've been posting five page chapters every other day, which takes a lot of time and effort, and reviews give me that energy. That was a very unsubtle hint, I know.**

**Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Thanks for the continued support.**

**Artemis' POV**

The great hall of Olympus had always been the grandest place imaginable, a room the size of a football pitch decorated with all sorts of ornaments to celebrate the glory of the gods. Relatively recently refurbished by Annabeth Chase, I thought that it looked even better than it had done before under its new looks. It was undeniably more simple with less of the abundant gold and other shiny and crude objects which had covered the walls before, but this only attracted me to it more. There were the very best of the ancient statues, one for each of the major gods, and special sections of the hall dedicated to particular Olympians. For example, Athena's area was covered with her finest tapestries and some of the great works that she had completed. For Zeus, there was an ornamental and finely crafted window, which simply looked out into his domain of the sky. To honour me, there were some of the most impressive artefacts from the hunt's history as well as some of nature's most beautiful plants, preserved by magic. The floor was made from a forest of fine woods – mahogany and oak predominantly – something which would have annoyed me if it were not for the fact that I'd been assured that the trees had been replanted. Finally, the ceiling was a nice touch – it let us see the beauty of the sky above in real time and was so realistic that you wouldn't even have known that there was even a ceiling there at all. All in all, I thought that it was a fine way of paying tribute to us Olympians, to nature and to the Greek style of building which made up most of our temples. There was barely any gold, a much more humble and thought-out tribute.

However, I wasn't there to admire the work of Annabeth Chase. There was only one purpose for my visit this time – one of the rare occasions when I'd come in the middle of a hunting season. We Olympians had gone too far this time and we'd been too stubborn to acknowledge it, this was my chance to set things right.

"Get on your chair," I gestured distastefully to the god I'd brought with me.

Ares's stomach had stopped leaking the golden fluids now and I wondered if he was going to fight back. In hand-to-hand combat, I would probably struggle against him. For one, he was the god of war, meaning that fighting was what he was supposed to specialise in. But also, my preference was to sit at a distance with a bow and arrow and pick my enemies off before they got close.

"Fine, fine." He said unusually meekly. It was almost as if he actually had a plan, which disturbed me a bit because Ares never had a plan. That was Athena's department.

Taking my own seat of power, a grand imitation of a hunting chair, I verbally summoned the gods to what I called an 'emergency council'. They probably wouldn't be particularly happy when they found out what the 'emergency' was, but I supposed that it was necessary if I was going to sort this out.

When I'd finished speaking, Ares brought out the trump card that I expected he'd been hiding up his sleeve. It was the reason that he'd decided not to fight me. "Why are you kicking up such a fuss for this boy anyway?"

His tone was suggestive and it annoyed me because it was an insult for him to imply that I had some sort of feelings for a boy after _aeons _of rejecting their company. I would've liked to see him try to stay away from females for even a week.

"I appreciate the need for justice." I answered coolly, looking straight into his eyes so that he could see that I had nothing to hide. "Zeus sending his henchman down to kill somebody who hasn't even been a nuisance recently, I call that unjust."  
A few seats down from mine, Ares' eyes bore into mine as if he was sure that I was hiding something but he was wrong. What I'd told him was the truth and nothing but the truth. Maybe it was true that I wouldn't have called an Olympic Council for any other boy, but that was only down to the fact that I hadn't sent any other boys into exile unfairly.

One by one the gods began to appear in the hall, grumbling that they'd had 'other things to do' or that they'd been 'in the middle of something'. Athena was the first to arrive, always one to be prompt and punctual, and we shared our usual smile. I considered her a good friend, a fellow maiden and somebody who could be trusted to keep a cool head. I was also pretty sure that we were Zeus' favourite children.

"This had better not take long," Hermes complained upon flying into the room. "There are always spirits to be taken to the underworld."

It was probably true that Hermes had the busiest job of all of us gods considering the many duties which he had to attend to. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were ironically the biggest layabouts by far, with most of them spending much of their time relaxing in their respective domains.

The chairs filled one by one, with Zeus predictably arriving last. Upon entering, he straightened his toga and his long beard with a nervous look to his wife before sitting on his own throne, the grandest of them all. I shared a knowing look with Athena and she held up four fingers. We kept a tally chart of the number of times that we thought that Zeus had been with one of his mistresses. The four fingers that the Goddess of Wisdom held up signified that she had come to that particular conclusion four times this week. I suppressed a giggle, a deathly glare from Hera shutting me up. She'd obviously worked out where he'd been as well.

"Artemis, my daughter." He boomed, annoyance clear in his voice. I supposed that I had just interrupted him in one of his, uh, sessions. "Why have you summoned us at such short notice?"

"I would like to expose a shocking act of attempted murder," I shouted loudly. From the corner of my eye, I saw Zeus sit up a bit straighter in alarm.

I continued. "The attempted murder of one of the children of one of the gods or goddesses in here."

There was a collective gasp as the other gods also sat up, realising that this actually was important and relevant to them.

"And I know that the murder attempt was carried out by gods or goddesses in this very room." I finished the beautiful crescendo effectively, noting that I had managed to build up an interest in the affair. The other Olympians were sitting up straight in their chairs, suspicion on their faces as they tried to work out if it was one of their children who had been targeted and who the antagonist might have been.

"Who?" Hermes demanded furiously. Of all of the gods, he had the most children under his protection. His question was chorused by all of the other gods, the majestic throne room like a boxing ring. The two fighters hadn't been determined yet but there was a deafening crowd already. Only Zeus and Ares stayed quiet – they literally couldn't have looked more guilty if they'd been trying.

"Come on, Artemis!" Apollo asked from next to me. I had a feeling that he already knew who the victim had been seeing as he knew where I'd been for the last few days.

The noise was massive, tensions high like they'd been before the world wars. Gods and goddesses glaring at their fellows, blaming, demanding and complaining. It really shook me how little we all trusted each other- if aliens were looking at us we certainly weren't looking like the most powerful group of beings on the planet. It was then that I realised the mistake I'd made. I'd sparked this argument and if there was another fight about it then any blood spilled would be on my hands. This could not go any further.

"I'm not going to give any names, though." I said, well aware of how annoying I must have sounded. The guilty ones will know who they are, and they will also know that I will be keeping a very close eye on them. The important thing was that nobody was hurt."

If anything, there was an even bigger uproar. They wanted to know if their child had been attacked, and they wanted to be able to blame it on somebody. Now, nobody could look at each other in the eye with a complete assurance that they were not looking at the antagonist. At least if I'd given them the identities, most of the gods and goddesses would have been able to trust each other, but my gut instinct told me that I was doing the right thing.

"I'll now move onto my next issue-"

Poseidon cut across me. "Hang on a second! We want to know if our children are safe!"

I couldn't look him in the eye knowing that I could give away the fact that it was his son who'd been attacked. "They are safe, because I am making sure of it." I replied confidently. So far, this meeting had certainly not earned me any friends.

He obviously wasn't happy with the reply, but let it go because to say otherwise would be to imply that I was not capable of watching over the demigods. "My next issue is a mistake that we made many years ago, something that I would like to rectify. I will take much of the responsibility for this, but I am not the only one who was mistaken."

There was a murmur of surprise from everyone as I broke a long Olympian tradition of stubbornness, actually admitting that I'd been mistaken.

"Around five years ago, in this very hall, we sent one of our greatest demigods into exile. He had done us many favours in the past but we feared that he would become too strong and therefore decided that he should be sent into a safe isolation. He assisted us in fighting off some of the greatest threats that we have ever faced and in return we cast him out and continued on with our lives. He is a forgotten hero who you may remember. His name is Perseus Jackson."

The name sounded foreign on my tongue and I realised that I could not the remember the last time that I had called him by his actual name. Maybe I'd never called him that before. I noticed that Poseidon was sitting on the edge of his seat – he must've missed his favourite son a lot during the

last five years.

"The reason that I accept responsibility for this is because it was my vote that made the difference. Well, after five years I have changed my mind and I am calling for a re-vote." I finished my speech, noticing that I had the attention of attentions of every single Olympian. This was my vote to win or lose.

Zeus let out a humourless laugh. "What do you want us to do, vote for a re-vote?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Why not?"

Athena spoke for the first time in the entire meeting. "Sister, do you not think that he will be even more dangerous than ever if we let him free?"

The problem was that I didn't have an answer for that apart from yes. I had absolutely no reason to believe that he would be grateful or friendly if we let him go. My silence had a very poor effect on my argument, suggesting that I hadn't thought the situation through.

Zeus sensed his advantage. "We will have a re-vote. All those who vote for the boy to stay in exile, put your hands up now."

**Percy's POV**

The curious fact about the God of War is that he's actually rather good at fighting. Surprising, I know. Fighting him took a lot out of me but it took more out of my trusty sword and the moment that I saw my ballpoint pen after waking up, I knew that its magic was dead. When a hero had built up a connection with their weapon as strong as my one with Riptide, they could always feel that kind of thing. The fight with Ares had been its last hurrah and I would be ever grateful to it for saving me, for presenting itself to me when I was in desperate need.

I walked out onto the beach and stretched my arms, yawning and admiring the view which I had enjoyed every day for the last five years. There could definitely have been worse places to be exiled to, especially for a son of Poseidon like myself.

"Morning, girl." I greeted my pet hell hound, who lounged lazily next to my shack. She was literally the same size as the little shelter which I'd been living in, which was more a testament to her size than an insult to my home. "Wanna come on a walk?"

She barked friendlily and followed me at a light canter as I strolled down the seafront. The height of the tide showed me that it was early in the morning, meaning that I must have slept all through the day before's afternoon and the night.

"Where is everyone, girl?" I asked my dog. As much as I hated to admit it, I'd grown rather used to waking up to Thalia or Artemis sitting beside my mattress. "Come on, let's go and see if we can find the hunter camp."

We set off in that direction, a slightly increased urgency to our pace.

**Thalia's POV**

My lady was very good at manipulating people – very good indeed. You see, it was only once I had packed all of my things and set off with the rest of the hunters that I realised that I'd been cheated. The promise had been that I'd return if Artemis tried to persuade Percy to join the hunt, but then there had been the fight and she'd told me that I had to take charge of the hunters and the promise had promptly been forgotten. Strangely enough I wasn't even angry at her, just grudgingly respecting the fact that she'd been able to get what she wanted without having to give anything up. She'd known that I loved leading the hunt and had seen that by giving that to me, she wouldn't have to fulfil her side of the bargain. So I wasn't so much angry at her as I was angry at myself. _I _was the one who left my friend without giving him a chance to say goodbye. What must've he have thought when he woke up to find himself alone, once again?

I shook all of these thoughts out of my mind and sent them to the special sanctuary in my mind where I kept all thoughts of my friends. The truth was, I never stopped worrying about Percy, about Annabeth, Artemis, Amy, Grover but I could not let them get in the way of my work, what I did best, so they _had _to be locked away.

"Come on, hunters!" I shouted to the loyal girls behind me. I was told that I could be quite an inspiring leader sometimes, but I had no idea how I managed it. "Our mission is to hunt down the very last of the evil creatures which remain free from the hell in which they belong. For Artemis!"

**Percy's POV**

Loneliness was something that I was used to, so why was I finding it so weird to sit on the beach without the reassuring feeling of having Thalia and Artemis nearby? I'd gone five long years by myself, and then suddenly two days with company had changed everything? Gods, life was unfair. Honestly, the feeling was getting me down so much that I would have preferred to be spending some quality time with Ares. It had been like this in the first month of my exile, talking to myself and generally driving myself mad by thinking about memories of my friends.

"Why do you think they went, girl?" I asked the dog beside me. Mrs O'Leary being next to me definitely helped the feeling of being alone but I craved the opportunity to talk to someone and actually get a reply. Don't get me wrong, my hell hound was much better company than the rest of her species solely by merit of the fact that she didn't try to rip me apart, but as far as intelligent conversation went, talking to Mrs O'Leary was about as fulfilling as talking to Ares.

A whip-like crack sounded from inside my cabin. One of the Olympians had come to visit me and I was pretty sure that I knew which one.

"You can find out yourself, now." A mischievous voice sounded from my cabin.

Yep, I knew exactly who the person was. "What d'ya mean?"

Maybe abusing her goddess powers a bit, she appeared in the chair next to mine with another annoying crack. "There was a re-vote, now you are free to go wherever you please."

Sinking back into my chair, I pressed my head into my hands in shock. Every passing day, the possibility of going back to civilization had seemed more and more impossible and now I'd been given the opportunity, I had no idea where I would go. Back to Camp Half-Blood was the obvious option, but would I be able to face Annabeth after her betrayal? Or maybe to my father's domain. I could spend the rest of my days under the sea as he did, talking to the creatures who understood him the best.

The Goddess of the Hunt smoothly slipped out of the chair and walked a few metres forward towards the sea.

"I don't know what to say," I flustered. "I mean, thank you, obviously. But I mean, you didn't have to do that. I'd already said that we were even."

"The problem with you, boy, is that you forgive people too easily." Artemis told me without looking back. I'd never, ever experienced a goddess being as brutally honest as she was being right then. "I didn't deserve forgiveness, not after it was me who put you here in the first place. I have satisfied the scales of justice now, I am at ease with myself."

For some reason, I felt disappointed that she seemed to be saying that she'd only decided to free me to satisfy her own problems but the bitterness quickly evaporated. I told myself that I shouldn't have cared – the most important thing was that I was free! Free at last. In truth, I didn't know why I had forgiven her so easily but I supposed that you couldn't help that sort of thing. Your mind made a sub-conscious decision and after that you could only try to persuade yourself that you were still angry at that. I was pretty sure that she was worthy of my forgiveness now, though. She'd put things right and saved my life which probably just amout made up for five years of misery.

"What made you change your mind?" I asked dutifully. It wasn't so much that I really cared as just me wanting to cease the awkward silence. I promise, an awkward silence with a god or goddess is infinitely more awkward than any silence you could possibly imagine.

She thought about this for a few brief seconds. "Not one thing in particular. Many things. Injustice, Thalia leaving, pity, anger."

Injustice and anger, I could understand. Her pity just made me feel like a desperately needy homeless person or something, but Thalia leaving? What was she talking about? "What do you mean, Thalia leaving? She didn't leave the hunt for me, did she?"

Artemis nodded, finally turning to face me to curiously examine my reaction.

"You shouldn't have let her, you know that she loves working with you more than anything." I told the goddess strictly. The idea of my friends sacrificing things for me really didn't please me, it made me feel guilty that I'd put them in that situation in the first place.

We sat around and talked for a little bit more with a roasting fire burning at our feet. I talked about what I was going to do next and my dilemmas, but mostly listened to the goddess talking, complaining, suggesting, even laughing at one point. Once you broke past the initial barrier of coldness, which took long enough, she was actually quite a nice girl with real emotions, fears and maybe even a sense of humour somewhere deep down.

The moment that I saw Artemis look up to the sky to examine the sun's position in the sky, I knew that she would be leaving immanently. For the entire chat, her eyes had barely left mine. It hadn't been in an intimate or romantic way, more like when you're having a brilliant conversation and you almost feel your minds connect.

"Look, boy. I've got to go. I really need to start tracking my hunters before they get too far out of reach." She frowned apologetically, really giving me the impression that it pained her to say it.

I tried to nod understandingly. "Of course, my lady. I wish you good luck in your journey, and my gratitude will always be with you."

"There is one more thing that I need to ask before I go." Artemis got up from her seat. "I promised Thalia that I would ask you if you would like to join the hunt."

I laughed, one of the first proper ones that I'd enjoyed in a lot time. "Do you really think that I'd make a good hunter?"

Her teeth shone in a similar grin to mine. "No, maybe not. I wish you the best, Perseus Jackson. Until the next time."

Yet another ear-popping crack of transportation and it was time for me to start packing.

**Okay, hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did, please leave a review because I can feel myself running out of steam. I've written a good 18,000 words in only a week and given you five chapters in the time that it would take some people to give you one. So I think I'm owed some reviews for that. I don't want to be one of those guys who say that a certain number of people have to review before the next chapter is released, but I don't think that it's fair that I'm writing so much and only some people (thanks to you guys by the way) are returning the favour. So I'd like to set a target, if I can get my review count up to 70 pretty soon then I'll continue to go at this pace. If you really want me to continue, please just leave me some sort of feedback whether it be a paragraph or just a few words.**

**Thanks, especially to those of you who consistently leave me reviews, and I'll hopefully see you all on Wednesday.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**This is a transitional chapter on which I had very little time to work, so unfortunately it is short and full of little experiments. Especially in the first section, I decided that I should try a bit of descriptive writing. So sorry that it's shorter than the rest, but hopefully you'll enjoy it all the same.**

**3rd Person POV **

Percy didn't know where he was, but it was a wet evening there. On the slate roofs of the impressive avenues and on the small mansards of the city, the rain kept up a ceaseless patter. As he walked down the narrow streets which wound and twisted like a piece of ribbon, mortals past him with umbrellas over their heads and doormen of grand hotels whistled for taxis to transport their fur-clad guests across the incredible city. Poseidon's son wondered if any of the mortals had picked up on the fact that he wasn't getting wet – it must have looked pretty weird. He reached a massive square with amazing archways climbing over its street entrances and cheap, tourist restaurants lining its four sides. A massive statue of a man I didn't recognise stood alone in the centre, the huge open space which it occupied glimmering black and silver in the downpour.

Percy had been on the road for a few days by then, just walking with a single bag of his possessions in one hand and his massive dog by his over side. Returning to city life had startled him at first, not used to being surrounded by the endless pack of loud people, the bright lights of advertisements glaring down on him and buildings which seemed to touch the very heavens. The city seemed endless, as if the entire world had been crammed into a small area and Percy felt embarrassed that he couldn't recognise it when it was such an obviously major city. His Geography had always been absolutely abysmal, but this felt like a new low.

On several occasions, the temptation to just shadow travel to Camp Half-Blood had almost taken over, the frustration of being so hopelessly lost often being very close to taking Percy over the edge. He'd already decided that the walk would be good for him, it would get his survival instincts going again after so many years of safety and it would give him a chance to finally clear his head. To put it simply, he wasn't ready to return to civilization, especially seeing as he hadn't spoken very many people since his exile. When Poseidon had come down to talk to him after the vote had been cast, Percy had blown up at the Sea God for not doing more to end the exile and completely let his fury loose. A mood like that wouldn't help him at all once he returned to the Camp, not unless he wanted to make himself as generally disliked as Mr. D.

At one of the outside tables belonging to a tacky tourist restaurant called 'Yum', a solitary diner sat as if waiting for somebody. Recognising him immediately, Percy knew exactly who the guy was waiting for. On that particular day, he was in the form of a thirty-something year old man. His face was tanned, relaxed and unwary, with a nose probably slightly bigger than the average size jutting out between thick, black brows. A few inches above, a great quiff of shiny black hair stuck upwards in a plume from his forehead up in the way that Elvis Presleyesque manner. Sticking a soft blue pack of Gauloises to his mouth, he wrapped his lips round a single cigarette and drew it out. As the God of War fired his expensive, golden lighter, Percy realised that Mrs O'Leary was nowhere to be seen. He looked around with panic, wondering where on earth she could have run off to and how she'd managed to do it without him noticing.

"It is safe," Ares said from right beside Percy. He was the last person who the demigod wanted to reassured by; the God of War wasn't exactly known for his honesty. Poseidon's son cursed at himself as he jumped back a few metres, angry that he'd allowed his enemy the chance to reach him. His hand went instinctively to his pocket as he looked for his sword before realising that Riptide was defunct – she didn't function as a sword any more.

Ares had both hands in the pockets of his swinging 60s leather jacket, and Percy had no doubt that one would be clasping a small weapon of some sorts. Reluctant to move first, Percy faced his adversary. He suddenly became aware of the silence around them – the eerie quiet of a normally bustling square replaced with just the sound of rain dripping from a roof above onto the ground.

As with most situations with Ares, something wasn't right. Percy began to move away, furtive, like a lizard, edging towards the freedom of one of the city's back alleys. In two strides the man was upon him, his arm across Percy's throat. He drove the demigod backwards into the statue, crashing the raven-haired head into the stone. Percy felt himself thrown face down onto the soaking wet cobbles of the square, his eyes getting filled with grit and mud from the floor. He tried to push himself up to fight back but heard the sound of a blade being released from its sheath as a sharp point pressed against his neck. With his free hand, and with practised dexterity, the God pulled Percy's arms behind his back and held them there as if they were handcuffs. This is bad, thought Percy. But what can I do...

Next, he was on his back, and Ares dragged him to lean against a fence and before the demigod could muster the energy to fight back he'd been attached to one of the fence poles with a bike lock. It was over, the War God had won.

**Percy's POV (That's my experimental phase over with)**

"What do you want with me, Ares?" I growled, shaking my hands wildly in an undignified attempt to get free. "This is degrading."

He crouched down, quickly checking that his knee wasn't in any mud. He may have been the War God but that didn't mean that he didn't like to keep a good appearance. "Not so strong now without Artemis, are you?"

It probably wasn't the moment to be unobliging, but I just couldn't stop myself from replying rudely. Ares just had that effect on me. "I'd beaten you before she arrived."

We both knew that what I'd said wasn't the entire truth – all I'd done was use all of my energy in slightly wounding him. "Don't answer back. You have no idea how much I'd enjoy ending you in ways that you could not possibly imagine."

I smirked back, fighting fire with fire. "Try me."

He hadn't been expecting that. "Well... I could, uh, keep you tied to this fence until you starve to death."

I feigned amazement. "What a brilliant idea! It's a good thing that I'm obviously invisible to the thousands of mortals who pass by here every day."

Glaring at me, Ares looked upwards for more inspiration. His hand twitched around the handle of his knife. "I could bring these buildings down over you, crushing you in the process."

"Some kind of hat may be in order" I laughed mockingly. He may have won the physical fight but that only made me more determined to win the verbal battle.

"SHUT UP!" Ares shouted, his patience at the end of its fuse. "If you speak another word then I swear that not only you but your friends at the camp, your hell hound and that daughter of Zeus will also feel my blade."

That shut me up and he grinned victoriously, the smugness returned. "Good. Now as it happens, I am feeling charitable so I will not kill you unless you annoy me."

A witty retort flew into my mind but I suppressed it momentarily, the threat on my friends weighing heavily on my mind. He continued. "If you want to return to the camp then you must first complete a few _small_ tasks for me first."

When Ares said small, I knew that what he really meant was 'impossible'. "If you complete the tasks then you have my word, on the River Styx, that you can return. And if you think about refusing this generous offer, remember what I've just said about your friends."

I had no choice, my only option being to play ball because let's face it, I was hardly in a position to negotiate or haggle. Despite knowing this, I nevertheless quickly evaluated my surroundings in case there was a miracle weapon or escape route somewhere around. I was Percy Jackson and I didn't give up, not unless there was absolutely no other option. And even then I still didn't give up unless my friends were in danger.

I tried to pull a last card from my sleeve. "You are aware that my father is always watching over me? He will have seen you do all of this to me."

"You think that your daddy will get you out of this? Think again. I am using my godly power to cloak you from all of the Olympians, they wouldn't be able to see you if you were two feet in front of them."

"Okay then. What would I actually have to do, say I decided to agree with your suggestion?" I asked with a sigh. These tasks were almost certain to be impossible or he wouldn't be giving them to me. Then again, I'd been told that closing the Doors of Death from within Tartarus was impossible and that went okay (kind of).

The War God leered at me. "13 tasks."

Great, I thought. An unlucky number.

"You will do one task to do with each of the thirteen Olympians who I've chosen: Me, _Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Hestia__."_

"That's impossible!" I protested. I knew exactly the kind of thing that he'd want me to do, for example steal an arrow from Artemis, or try and take somebody from the dead back into the land of the living. Of course, there were certain gods with whom I could fancy my chances because they liked me, and probably (hopefully) wouldn't kill me on the spot for doing whatever Ares wished of me. A plan was already forming in my head whereby I would get all of the friendly Olympians to help me complete the tasks.

It was as if Ares had read my mind. "If you try to enlist any help for this then you will lose the challenge, and you can probably guess the punishment for that."

"You still haven't answered my original question, Ares." I brushed away his warning as if the thought had never crossed my mind. "Why are you doing this? Why do you insist on making my life miserable?"

The War God's eyes blazed like fire, sending paralysing shock waves through my body. "Because, Perseus Jackson, I hate you. I hate you more than I've ever hated another demigod, and I've hated a whole lot of demigods. You can't seem to realise that we are GODS! We are always going to be better than you."

I thought about cutting his rant short with a remark about his limited vocabulary, but thought better of it. At that point, I'd lost both the verbal and physical contests, so all that I could do was sit on my high horse and pretend that it was all beneath me.

"Ready to receive your first task, then?" Ares asked me as if he genuinely thought that there was a possibility of me being ready. He didn't even give me a chance to reply. "Good. Your first job will be to taunt Zeus by telling him that you are a better fighter than his favourite son, Heracles. I hope that your fist fighting is up to scratch."

I growled like a wild beast at the arrogant god. "Ares, you know damn well that I never fight with my bare hands, and Heracles is the the strongest minor god in existence."

I only got a smirk in reply. "Well that's too bad. Remember, if you don't get it done or if you're stupid enough to try to talk to somebody, then I promise that you will be one friend fewer the next time you check."

With a suave click of his fingers, the bike lock broke and the god had disappeared.

_**Poseidon's POV (A new one, I know)**_

_I was very concerned about my favourite son and he didn't even know it. Or maybe he did but he just didn't want to acknowledge it. You see, unfortunately my son was in a bad way at that time. A state in which the majority of the Olympians, including myself, he saw as his enemies. Needless to say, I knew my son pretty well; much better than most of the other gods knew their children and never had I known Percy to be so full of anger or hatred at anybody. My mind flashed back to a few days ago when I'd gone to meet him on his beach._

_"__Father." He said coldly as I emerged from the ocean in front of him. "What are you doing here?"_

___I went up to my son and hugged him, but his arms did not wrap around me as mine did to him. He stood rigid, the very epitome of awkwardness._

___Withdrawing from the hug, I knew that I'd need to persuade him of my good intentions. "I've missed you a lot, Percy." I smiled softly at him as if his coldness did no affect me. "The last few years have been difficult for me."_

___My son crossed his arms, kicking sand around with his feet. "Difficult for you?" He snorted, without looking at me. "I'm really sorry to hear that. It's just that I've been enjoying myself soooo much since you Olympians chucked me out that I haven't been worrying about you too much."_

___Sarcasm didn't complement his voice very well. "Okay, that came out wrong." I tried to tell him, realising that I had sounded rather insensitive. A long, awkward silence ensued as he slouched, sticking his hands in his pockets and generally doing anything to avoid looking into my eyes. _

_"__It's a nice set up that you've got here, son." I waved my hand at his constructions appreciatively, breaking the age long quietness._

___He ignored me totally, finally exploding into the question that he'd obviously wanted to ask ever since I'd arrived. "Why didn't you come and save me, father? I was here for FIVE years, half a decade of my life wasted because of you and the rest of Olympus."_

___I nervously twiddled with a strand of my beard. "I did more to help you than you know -"_

_"__WHY?" He demanded, obviously not interested in anything but the specific answer to his question. _

___I sighed – this was not how I'd envisioned our reunion. In my mind it had been more hugs and tears as if we were a normal family. "Look, Percy. The vote was cast and even I could not go against a majority without causing a dispute. It was a difficult choice but in the end I chose peace on Olympus over you because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I thought that you of all people would understand a sacrifice for a better order."_

___My argument failed to win him over. "But I'm your son!" He raged, finally glaring at me as our ocean green eyes connected for the first time. "You didn't end up doing anything, in fact the only reason that I'm talking to you now is Artemis' help; why was it her who helped me, not you?"_

___Before I could reply, the water began to bubble behind me and I felt the sea trying to take me away. Shocked, I looked at my son – was he really trying to use my own element against me? Obviously I had no problem in ordering the water to stop its assault but the fact that Percy was using such means against me shocked me more than I would have liked to admit. He simply didn't want to hear what I had to say._

_I shook myself out of the vivid memory, grimacing at the only bad experience I'd ever had with the most powerful of my sons (to date). It was something that I didn't want to remind myself of too often, certainly, but I did wish that I'd managed to tell Percy that Ihad helped him. Had he been so naïve to assume the the plethora of helpful ocean creatures and the cleanest of all water had been there just by chance? Now he was gone and for the first time since he'd ventured into Tartarus, I didn't know where he was. Somebody or something was cloaking him in a way that only a god could, which was how I found myself on my way to see the Goddess of the Hunt. I couldn't see Percy going to another Olympian, not after the obvious bond that he had developed with Artemis after she'd done my job for me. She had to be the answer, right?_

_**Unfortunately a very short chapter there, folks. Only three and a half pages rather than the usual five. The reason is that firstly, this is a transitional chapter. I don't want Percy to start the first task until the next chapter, but also I'm really busy over the next few days so I decided that you'd prefer a short chapter on time than a long chapter a few days late. I'll try to make it up to you over the next few chapters, and I won't ask for so many reviews this time seeing as there was less work involved on my part (obviously they are still very much appreciated).**_

_**Hope you enjoyed it, and sorry that it was short!**_

_**Adios.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**This chapter was inspired by 'Of Mice and Men'.**

**Artemis' POV**

It had only been a day since I'd managed to track down my hunters, who'd been under the command of Thalia since the emergency council. Although I didn't like to leave them for any significant period of time it was definitely true that it helped their independence and maturity because they had to be able to operate without my help. Generally, I used it as a gauge to measure how good they were at whatever they did and how grown up they were. Take Thalia, for example. I was particularly happy with her because it was obvious that she'd taken command with impeccable efficiency - the girls seemed happy, they'd managed to keep on moving fast enough that it had taken me a few days to track them down and the location that they'd chosen to pitch camp was near perfect.

It was a not far south of Yellowstone National Park, a deep and green river dropping in close to the steep hillside. The water was warm too, for it seemed to bask in the middle of the sunlight from dawn to dusk. On one side of the river the golden foothill slopes curved boldly up to the strong and rocky mountains, but on the opposite side the water was lined with trees— willows as fresh and green as any I'd ever seen. There were sycamores with mottled, white, recumbent branches which arched over the pool. On the sandy bank, where there was ample shade from the trees, there was a perfect spot for solitary reflection and thought. Rabbits came out of their bushes, bold enough to sit on the sand in the evening even when somebody was sitting there. On my first night back, I'd been privileged enough to see a lonely deer come to drink in the dark. I've been told since that I was extremely lucky because so few of such beautiful creatures live in these beautiful parts. There was an ancient path through the willows and among the sycamores, a path which had been historically beaten hard by people coming down from the nearby villages to swim in the deep pool, but we hadn't been bothered by any unwelcome intruders yet.

In my spaciously comfortable white tent, my faithful lieutenant talked to me about the girls; who had reacted well to my absence, but also who had taken the opportunity to be giddy like children.

"Celestina was a great asset," Thalia explained modestly. "We wouldn't have got this far without her bearings."

I nodded appreciatively with a yawn as I sat down on my mattress. In an attempt to catch up with my girls, I'd kept sleeping to a bare minimum. Even goddesses got tired. "Do you think she'd ready for promotion? I could make her a sergeant."

"Defo!" Thalia agreed with a wide smile spreading across her face.

I looked at her sternly, having mildly rebuked her a few times for using too much colloquial language. "Was there anybody who did not work well?"

Thalia noticeably hesitated, the starts of a frown appearing at the edges of her lips. "Hanna wanted to stay up late, but nothing else happened."

The lieutenant's body language betrayed her lie, the eyes darting around to look anywhere except mine and the fingers nervously drumming on the side of her white shirt suggesting dishonesty. Wondering whether I should question her about it, I decided that maybe it could wait until the next day.

"Go and get some rest, Thalia." I told my lieutenant softly. "You've done a great job."

She thanked me, relieved that I hadn't pushed her about the lie, and said goodnight before leaving, knowing that I wanted to relax. She was a top class hunter, truly one of the finest to have ever graced my ranks. Throwing off my bow and quiver full of shining silver arrows, I ungracefully slumped down onto my back, appreciative of the softness of my feathery bed. My eyes closed as my chest began to softly move in and out and thoughts flooded my head. On the other side of the thin tent wall, I could hear a rabbit gently bounding around in little hops.

"My lady!" A hunter burst through the tent flaps bristling with anger. "Another man has arrived in the camp. He insists that he is here to see you."

My first thought was that it must have been a certain raven-haired, green eyed, twenty two year old son of Poseidon, but soon it occurred to me that the girl had said 'another'. _Probably some creep, _I persuaded myself. _And I am not disappointed that it's not going to be Percy. No way._

"Threaten him with arrows, attack him with knives, punch him in the face. I really don't care as long as he is out of my camp in two minutes and I don't have to get up."

The hunter hesitated, probably wondering if she should continue to pester me when I was in such an obviously bad mood. "My lady, we tried to shoot him. But the arrows, well, they kind of bounced off."

I sat up wearily. "What?"

She repeated herself, nervously checking behind her back every few seconds as if she thought that the man was creeping up on us. With a tired roll of my eyes, I threw off my cosy blankets and slung the quiver and bow back round my shoulder. In most cases I wouldn't have hesitated to be up and fighting, but walking almost continuously had affected even me badly. The girl, I was pretty sure that her name was Rebecca, gestured for me to follow her with a new confident expression on her face. She was one of the newer recruits and definitely one of those who weren't independent yet, only reassured once I had joined the fight. At a light jog, we snuck between the rows of white tents and I peered round the corner to the massive bonfire which sat in the camp's centre.

I let out an animalistic growl. "Girl, have you really dragged me out of my bed to see my uncle?"

Poor Rebecca looked confused, embarrassed, scared along with a whole host of other emotions and to be fair, I could've hardly expected her to recognise the God of the Sea when she'd never seen him before. But still, that night I hadn't been in the mood to get out of bed.

He spotted us from the camp fire where he was chatting seriously with the girls, especially Thalia. "Ah! My dear niece! How do you fare?" He called, gesticulating for me to approach.

I told Rebecca to return to her tent before moving towards him as he had asked. Poseidon, what on earth was he doing there? I rarely, if ever, spoke to him and yet there he was in the middle of the strictly female hunter camp.

"I need to talk to you, Artemis." He told me gravely, once I had reached the fire. "I don't suppose that there is any water around here? Being solely on land makes me feel kind of edgy."

All of us gods had our domains and I could understand that he felt vulnerable without his water but I still made a big show of rolling my eyes and beckoning for him to follow me. Silently, he walked behind me as I took him out of the camp and next to the glistening green river that I'd been admiring earlier.

Now to find out why he was there in the first place.. "Uncle, why have you come to talk to me?"

Poseidon was tall and broad, dark of face, with kind eyes and sharp, strong features. Every part of him was defined: strong, welcoming hands, thick arms, a carefree and stubbled face. He took off his fishing hat and wiped a sweat-band from his forehand with his finger.

"I would like to see my son, he does not know how concerned I am about him." Poseidon told me wearily. I guessed that he had worked hard to find me.

Expecting for him to develop, I didn't answer immediately. "So... why have you come to me?"

"He's here, with you, isn't he?" His eyes pierced mine, trying to read me to see if I was lying.

I shook my head honestly. "No, I haven't heard from him since he left."

Poseidon's forehead wrinkled into a concerned frown. "That is... worrying. He's being concealed by one of the gods, I recognise that much, so naturally I assumed that you were helping him to hide from me."

His search of me seemed to have concluded that I wasn't the guilty Olympian, however quick it was. Of course I knew exactly who was responsible, it didn't take Athena to work it out, but the real question was, should I tell him? It was obvious that if I told him that I knew then he would want to know how, and then I'd have to tell him that it was Percy who'd been attacked before. He'd probably have a conflict with Ares and Zeus and then there would be another Olympian war. But if I didn't tell him, he wouldn't be able to help the boy. I could barely imagine what Ares would be doing if it was true, that he really had captured the boy.

"A god! Surely not, there must have been some kind of mistake." I faked surprise, my mind automatically making the decision– sacrificing the boy was the only option because in the interests of just about everyone on the planet an Olympian War _had _to be prevented. . There was still one thing that I could try, though. "Where did you see him last?"

My uncle seemed convinced at my feign of surprise. "The cursed city," He told me grimly. "The one place on the surface that even us gods never approach."

I nodded affirmation. "I'll take my hunters to search there."

The cursed city was the last place I wanted to go, it would almost certainly be the last place that my hunters wanted and if what Poseidon said was true, that a god was hiding Perseus, then we would never find him regardless. So why was I risking everything to go and look for him there anyway?

**Percy's POV**

I still had no idea where I was, but the city still amazed me. Everything about it oozed intrigue, mystery and beauty. The occupants were almost suspiciously friendly, there was not a single bit of dirt or grime in sight, every single plant was healthy and lush. I just felt like it was impossible to put a foot wrong. I could almost forget the task that I'd been given by the War God, the metaphorical crossfires placed on the heads of all of my friends.

Something wasn't quite right, though. I didn't know quite what it was but there was definitely something, something that I was seeing but not observing. A demigod, especially one as experienced as me, could generally feel when there was trouble afoot and however much I was enjoying walking down the shining, tiled boulevards, I had already decided that I wanted to leave as soon as possible. To do that, I needed to complete my first assignment – fighting Zeus' favourite demigod son, the best bare-fist fighter ever, within the next 24 hours.

"I'd better get something to eat," I told myself. Over the last few years, talking to myself had become a bit of a habit and it was somewhat difficult to drop.

From my backpack, I brought out some of the cooked rabbit that I'd brought with me from my supplies at the hut It was strange that the meat had become my staple food considering that before my exile I would never have touched rabbit. What desperation does to you, eh? The moment that my food was out in the open, the eyes of everybody in the street suddenly turned to stare at it intently. Their expressions got noticeably more wild and deranged as quickly, they started the charge at me. Tens of people who just minutes before had been jovially waving 'good morning' and 'nice day, isn't it?'. It suddenly occurred to me what was so weird – I'd never seen any of them eat, not even at the restaurants in the main square. The food in my hand had changed them to a desperate, almost bloodthirsty state. I did the only thing that I could think of, dropping the food and running for my life. When I looked over my shoulder a couple of minutes later, all I could see was a massive pile of suddenly animalistic people, fighting like dogs for the smallest of scraps. This city was quite obviously cursed.

**Thalia's POV**

It's undeniable that I felt a strange kind of feeling of prestige upon finding out that I was the only hunter to have been briefed on the mission, the only one. Just me. It made everything feel very covert, like one of those spy movies which everyone raves about. For your eyes only, etcetera. On the other hand, it really wasn't a privilege to find out that our destination was the 'Cursed City'. Now I had no idea what said city was, but my educated guess was that it wasn't exactly a popular holiday destination in the Bahamas. It's not a well known story, but basically the tale says that once upon a time, thousands of years ago, the occupants of the city boasted that they had the finest city in the world. Finer than Olympus, Athens, Rome and all of the great cities in history. The ever merciful Olympians decided that they wouldn't kill all of the citizens, but let them live in the city for eternity always hungry as a punishment for their greed and arrogance. Nice, I know. So yeah, as I was saying, I knew where we were going, when we were going (straight away) but I still didn't have any idea why. My lady hadn't indulged that amount of detail on me yet, and one of the first rules of the hunt was that you didn't question her decisions.

We set off very soon after Artemis had come back from her meeting with Poseidon, which told me that it must have been important because I knew that she was absolutely shattered. Although I knew that she was as fatigued as she'd been in a long time, she was good enough at hiding it that nobody else could tell. The march was no different than usual, a pace of a quick job with a rearguard slightly lagging behind and the scouts fifty metres ahead. We were two abreast but chatting, as ever, was limited to improve stamina and speed. Silently, I hoped that Lady Artemis would be able to make it with enough energy to complete what was obviously such an important task. As much as we liked to pretend otherwise, we hunters were severely weakened when our leader wasn't present or in condition to fight. I glanced across at her, noting the steely and determined look on that crafty face. Whatever it was that we were doing, she was obviously pretty resolute to get it done.

**Back to Percy's POV (It is a Percy Jackson story, after all).**

There was a girl who I kept seeing in the streets, a girl who I could have sworn that I recognised. The first time I'd seen the her I'd assumed that I was just hallucinating, the sun was hot, my mind was addled and I hadn't eaten very much since leaving my hut on the beach. The second time, I'd persuaded myself that it was just a coincidence that she looked like the girl who I'd once known. But after seeing her again, this time she'd been walking down the main road with a look of astonishment on her face at the ancient buildings, I knew that my memory was correct. Everything about her blonde hair, pulled back into an untidy ponytail, was clearly familiar. But not only this, I'd seen that wise, knowing and maybe slightly condescending face so many times before. Once I'd got close enough to her face to see her eyes, the deal was sealed. You simply didn't get two demigods with eyes as grey and defined as hers. By definition they were unique. It posed an obvious question: what was Annabeth Chase doing in the Cursed City?

It disturbed me, upset me, shook me. This hadn't been how I'd been expecting to see her again, this certainly wasn't where I wanted to meet her again and it was a little disconcerting that she didn't even recognise me. When I'd approached her to take a peek at her eyes, I'd been sure that she was going to see me and remember me as the guy who'd been her boyfriend for a few years and best friend for the years before that. I'd had this little dream scenario playing on repeat in my head whereby I'd 'accidentally' bump into her and then she'd recognise me and we'd talk and catch up and generally do all of the things that I'd missed for five years. Well, in the end I didn't have the guts to do it. Yes, they call _me_ the 'Saviour of Olympus'.

"What on Earth are you playing at, Jackson?" I heard a biker's voice behind me before feeling the full force of the War God's speciality punch into my spine. Managing to keep myself upright, I quickly turned round to face him. None of the mortals around us had cottoned onto what was happening yet, leading me to wonder if he was cloaking me from them as well as the Olympians now.

"What do you mean?" I wheezed, unsuccessfully trying to hide my pain.

He punched me again, this time with a full blow to my stomach. It took a whole lot of control not to wretch and puke. "You've been in contact with the hunters, haven't you?"

Oh, how I wished that I had Riptide. "No!"

His fingers played with the hilt of his massive, black sword - it was obvious how much he wanted to run it through me. "Don't lie to me, Jackson. They're on their way now and I sure as hell didn't call them. But only we know about our little agreement, so it must have been you who alerted them."

I coughed crimson blood onto my hand with a grimace. However grateful I was that they were presumably coming to help, it wasn't really doing me any favours at that point. For the first time I cursed Artemis' quick thinking which had obviously allowed her to connect the dots.

"Well." Ares continued malevolently. "I promise that they are going to have a little surprise waiting for them as soon as they enter, but they won't be here for a couple of days yet. We need somebody to pass the time, don't we Percy?"

As soon as I said it, I knew that he meant the blonde-haired daughter of Athena who I'd been staring at for the last twenty minutes and it occurred to me that she probably wasn't there by coincidence.

He noticed that I'd worked it out. "I'll call her over, shall I?"

**Again, not the longest of chapters but still took my fair share of effort. I think that the second half of the chapter is rubbish, but I had to write this all out and proofread it in only one evening because I was at the theatre yesterday, so it was difficult to get this one up on time. So yeah, reviews would be nice. We're on 90 at the moment so the obvious target would be 100, but I want to aim high. So I am going to aim for 110-15 reviews by the end of this chapter. Maybe a little ambitious, I know, but it will show how much you guys value the story. **

**Thanks for reading, even bigger thanks to those of you who will review. Remember, I make sure that I answer your reviews by submitting one of my own every chapter so you can check that out too.**

**Bysie!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**2 weeks on now from the inaugural chapter, here's number eight. We've come a long way, and already the 110 reviews that I've received, the 113 favourites and the 162 followers are more than I ever dreamed. Let's try and boost those miracle numbers even further. Without further ado, here comes chapter eight.**

**Percy's POV**

All I could do was sit and watch and I hated it; my entire life had been made up of situations where I'd just kept on fighting. Sometimes I'd even been on the verge of death but my sword still hadn't left my hand. I wasn't the same person any more, though. The power which had once surged through my body had slowly dissipated with years of knitting and walking around a beach. Gods, I didn't even have the energy to pull myself up, let alone to fight the God of War. Mortals continued to walk past me as if I wasn't there and Ares was pulling my (ex) girlfriend towards me totally unnoticed. The reason that I say 'ex' is that we'd never formally split up, I mean neither of us had ever told each other that we were dumped. I'd been forced to leave the demigod world and she'd decided not to come with me – does that count as a break up?

"What are you doing, Ares?" The blonde-haired daughter of Athena screeched at her aggressor as he dragged her by the hair towards where I lay on the ground, still writhing from a strong punch.

Not wanting to look, I grimaced at the floor. Was I more scared that he was going to do something to her or that she wouldn't recognise me, I wondered. "Come on, Ares. This is between me and you. Annabeth shouldn't have to come into it." I moaned in protest, still not looking up.

Running one of his hands through his high quiff, the War God chucked her onto the floor next to me. I couldn't help but notice how much she'd grown, although most of her features looked very similar to how they had done half a decade ago.

Wanting to ask if she was all right, all that came out of my mouth were a few indiscernible, meaningless noises. She looked at me weirdly as if I was her worst enemy, quickly reminding me of the first few days that I'd known her. Was it true, did she really not recognise me?

"What do you want with me, Ares?" She spat at the leather jacket clad figure, "And who is this next to me? And why can't anybody see us?"

Ignoring her questions, the War God instead turned to me. "Look at that, boy. She doesn't even remember who you are!"

It was obvious that he was trying to rile me and I knew from past experience that I shouldn't have reacted, but he'd struck a nerve and we were both aware of it. Just about managing to contain my anger, I didn't answer. I dared to take a quick glance at Annabeth, who had her thinking face on. It annoyed her that she was having to ask questions and therefore she wasn't asking for the answers. Knowing her facial expressions well, I knew that she wasn't managing to piece it together.

"Just let her go, Ares." I repeated myself more boldly than I was feeling. "This is between me and you."

"I recognise that voice." Athena's daughter muttered beside me.

Ares crouched down beside us, tantalisingly just out of reach. "It seemed to me that you might need some punishment for summoning the hunters, but I need you for my plan. So, who better than Annabeth Chase to prove that my claims are very... much... real."

Desperately, I lunged out at him with my fist in an attempt to connect with his face. With lightning quick reactions he grabbed my arm and twisted it into an awful, painful position. I could've sworn that I heard a crack.

"Pathetic, Jackson." He sneered over my groans.

"No way." Annabeth whispered next to me. She didn't seem particularly bothered that Ares was threatening her with horrible torture, more concerned that she hadn't managed to recognise me. Our eyes locked together for the first time but there were no smiles. It wasn't that we weren't glad to see each other again, but our last meeting had been kind of... awkward. I'll talk about that later.

I shrugged casually as if this was no biggy. "Yes way."

"But... but... you're supposed to be in exile! Miles away from any demigods!" It was almost more as if she was trying to defend the fact that she hadn't worked out that it was me, rather than actually being glad that we'd encountered each other again.

"Sorry to disappoint." I replied calmly, in a way that I imagined Artemis would do.

Repulsive as ever, Ares smirked at the two of us as if this had all been part of the plan. Or maybe it actually _had _been planned; firstly he would crush me mentally by reminding me that I had no friends and secondly he would send me on a number of impossible tasks so that I could die in an entertaining matter. He was more subtle that I'd thought.

"Kiddies, kiddies." He jeered in an unimaginably annoying manner. "Come on, we're all friends here. I thought that we'd have this little reunion just to remind Percy what will happen if he fails to meet my terms."

Before I could argue that we definitely were _not _friends, he'd grabbed Annabeth and stuck a thin, wicked looking knife to the side of her neck. Gently, he pressed it forwards and it ripped through the first layer skin, small quantities of blood trickling out of the minute wound.

"If you kill her, you've lost your main bargaining tool." I pointed out. "My other friends are all protected by the Camp or by Artemis."

My logic didn't affect him. "That doesn't mean that I can't _hurt _her."

The point of the blade went in slightly deeper and a bit more of the crimson liquid began to flow from the opening. It tricked down her neck, staining the floral pattern on her shirt. Annabeth didn't made a squeak but I could tell by her eyes that she was scared. Shuddering, I pondered over my limited options – there was very little that I could do, he was the one in charge there.

"What do you want from me?" I finally groaned. "I'll do anything for this just to stop."

I may have been in a bad mood with my ex but that didn't mean that I could bear watching my worst enemy spill her blood to punish me.

"Just watch."

I couldn't sit and watch any more. Propelling myself up with energy that I didn't think I had, I kicked him weakly away from Annabeth. As I said, the force wasn't particularly big but the surprise that I'd been able to get up was great enough that his grip on the knife failed and it dropped to the cobbled floor with a clatter. All three of us scrambling to get to it first, it was my hand which gripped it first. Instead of holding it to Ares' throat, though, I held it to my own.

Ares looked at me comically for a second before erupting into laughter. "What on earth is that going to achieve?"

Annabeth had a similar look of befuddlement on her her face but I continued to grip the weapon tightly to my neck, grimacing dangerously. I truly believed that I was ready to do it, ready to take my own life. A few years back it would not have been something that I would have even considered.

"You don't want me to die like this, you want me to die trying to complete your tasks." I reasoned grimly. "So let her go and we'll sort this out ourselves."

As I said, however much I disliked Annabeth at that moment in time I simply could not let anybody, least of all _her, _get hurt because of my quarrel with the War God.

A smug smile still occupied Ares' lips. "Or, how about this? If you kill yourself, you can rest assured that the girl, your goat friend, your half brother, your mother, your step-father, your hunter friend, all of them will feel my blade."

I shook my head more confidently than I was feeling. "No you won't, because Artemis is on to you. That's why she's on her way now, not because I've contacted her. She connected the dots and will do again. You won't get away with killing loads of mortals because she'll know that it was you and won't rest until you get punished for it."

My argument was flawed in a number of ways and even Ares, hardly the sharpest knife in the draw, could see it. "Kid, you don't know my sister. She won't bother to hunt me down because she simply won't care enough. She doesn't want anything to do with Olympian politics, why do you think she isolates herself by staying with her hunters for most of the year?"

Annabeth, who stood at the side of the tense triangle with her hand against her neck, finally spoke up. "Talking of the hunters..."

**Thalia's POV**

I'd been to a lot of cities all across the world in my time with the hunters and of all of them, this one probably looked the least cursed of them all. Everything was so clean, so healthy and so well organised. The sun seemed to perpetually shine down onto the streets and it reflected off the buildings beautifully. There was a perfect blend of modern and ancient architecture with the latest technology complementing Greek style buildings. I couldn't help but think about how excited Annabeth would be to see of all of it.

"Where do we start, My Lady?" I asked Artemis, who was glaring mistrustfully around the street.

She didn't answer immediately, continuing to examine her surroundings. "We go to the main square. When we have arrived I will tell you all why we are here, and then we will split up to search the city."

I nodded agreement before jogging back to inform the rest of the hunters of the plan. Cautiously, we walked down the main road as if something was going to jump out at us at any moment. As far as Artemis knew, the city people would only attack if we got our food out but in a place like this, it never hurt to be sure. As for the rest of the hunters, they didn't know why we were going so slowly and for once I had to agree that My Lady had made an error of judgement by not telling them about this place. How could they be expected to be happy or successful with the mission when they didn't know, what or who we were searching for, why we were there, where we even were? I definitely had a bad feeling about this whole affair.

The city was designed well, and the main road provided a very efficient way of cutting through the city to reach the grand centre square. A statue of somebody who looked like a politician stood ten metres high right in the middle, surrounded by grand columns of marble. The ground was cobbled in an ancient style, something that was preferable to the boring tarmac of modern cities. The square was bustling with people of all varieties: businessmen, buskers, tourists, workers anxiously checking their watches as they realised that they were late for their respective jobs. It truly was the centre of a great city.

**Annabeth's POV**

"Talking of the hunters..." I said, pointing towards the one of the stone archways of the square. Lead by the small, crafty figure of Artemis a legion of white shirted, hard looking girls poured into the area. If this did anything to unsettle Ares then he didn't show it.

"They won't be able to see, hear or smell us." He yawned, obviously bored with proceedings. "So they aren't going to help. Now, Jackson. Give me back my knife, or I will kill the girl."

Percy looked at him inquisitively. "You said see, hear or smell. Does that mean that they'll be able to feel us?"

For just a moment, Ares looked less sure of himself. "No... well, yes, but that doesn't make any difference."

I got what Percy was planning – if the hunters could just get close enough then we'd be able to alert them to our presence by touching one of them somehow. But that would only be if we were lucky enough that they came close enough.

In our quests, Lady Luck had always had a habit of turning up at just the right time and it was no different on this occasion. Artemis led the girls to the statue, just metres away from where our suspenseful triangle was standing. I could tell that even for Ares this was a little too close for comfort and it showed a little bit through his normally 100% self-assured face. He didn't want to move in case it somehow alerted them to our presence, for example if he accidentally kicked a stone.

Ares reached back into a hidden pocket and drew out a modern pistol, matt black with a small tally chart scratched onto the side of it as a record of kills. "I hate using these things but this is a special scenario. I swear that if even one of you goes near those hunters then you will both die."

The situation could not have been tenser. Very close to my right, the hunters had assembled to listen to Artemis speak. Near the Goddess of the Hunt I could see Thalia and automatically I knew that alerting them to our presence would endanger my friend. But what else was there to do? We'd kick ourselves if we missed this golden opportunity.

"I realise that you have not been told very much about this mission and I am sorry for that, but you must know that I was only trying to help you. The mission is to find a boy, I know that this sounds strange, but we are doing it as a favour to Poseidon. Some of you will know the boy who I mean, those of you who don't must see Thalia to find out what he looks like. Next thing, we will spend no more than five hours in this wretched place..."

Her speech continued, but one thing had captured my attention. A hunter in the back rows of the group was opening her bag to take out a snack, and from what I knew about this city... well, the result was not going to be pretty.

Ares had noticed it too. "Looks like somebody got hungry!"

"Oh dear Gods." Percy muttered next to me. The girl continued to rummage around and I saw that we only had one option – if she took the food out then every single one of the hundreds of mortals in the square would turn ravaged and charge at them for the food. Hunters would be killed, including maybe Thalia. Instinctively, I looked to my fellow demigod to see what he was thinking. I got a nod in reply as we read each other's minds.

Quick as a flash, I dived to barge into one of the hunters closest to me. From the corner of my eyes I could see that Percy had done the same, but he'd charged at Ares to stop him from shooting either of us. There was massive disarray as the hunters tried to work out what had hit them but it had had the intended result, the girl had not taken the food out from her pack in the confusion.

"What's happening?" Some of them screeched as they drew their weapons. I could understand their confusion but there was nothing that I could do to tell them. They could not hear, smell or see me after all.

Behind me, Percy was in a fully fledged fight with Ares as they both wrestled for the gun. One of the shots was fired accidentally, putting a bullet hole on the leg of the statue. There would be seven shots left in the magazine. Totally confused my what was going on, Artemis put her finger in the hole made by the pistol shot. Quickly, a look of understanding washed over her scrunched up features and I was pretty sure that she'd worked it out.

"Hunters!" She shouted over the chaos. "Retreat from the square and do not return under any circumstances. That includes you, Thalia."

Almost laughing at the look of fury on my best friend's face at being told to retreat, I quickly pulled myself together again. The fight was still very much going on.

"Ares!" The Goddess of the Hunt shouted angrily, "Stop this now. Reveal yourself and the boy."

Very surprisingly, he actually did. Obviously it was difficult for me to tell, but I just got the feeling that I was visible again. The bad news? Ares had a gun to the side of a squirming Percy's head. I wondered what he was playing at. By revealing himself, he was also showing all of the Olympians, including Poseidon, what he was doing. A look of deranged psychopathy blared in his eyes.

"I am sick and tired of this boy." He bellowed with anger as he felt another of his plans fail. "This ends now."

The whole square watched on as if it was a demonstration, with Ares standing on his high ground right next to the statue. Even the mortals knew what was going on and they silently watched on, wondering if they were about to witness the death of a young man.

One by one, other Olympians began to appear as they themselves saw the scene from up above. First there was Poseidon, barging through the crowd to confront his fellow god.

Ares held out his hand. "Stop! If you or anyone else come any closer then I swear that I will pull the trigger."

The Sea God stopped in his tracks, a mixture of emotions obvious on his face. His hands trembled but I didn't know whether this was from fear or anger. I noticed that he was sharing looks which meant a thousand words with his son, who seemed more than ready to let this take its course. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I literally didn't know what to do. Obviously there had been occasions where I'd had minor dilemmas, but this was a totally different ball park. I couldn't just watch and let this happen, could I?

From the corner of my eye I noticed a few other gods sitting on the restaurant outdoor tables. My mother, Hermes, Hera, Dionysus all just watching with interest. They were the gods and goddesses who really didn't care what happened to Percy, they were just there for the entertainment and because the situation intrigued them. Zeus and Apollo appeared in the fray, but only one of them was there to help my friend.

"What is happening here, son?" Zeus sighed tiredly at Ares. His voice didn't show any anger or distaste at what the War God was doing, more just annoyance at the fact that the latter had been caught in the act.

Poseidon trembled with anger next to his brother. "He's trying to kill my son, that's what is happening. Surely you can't condone this, brother? This is just mindless slaughter."

Artemis and Apollo nodded in agreement. "We agree. Tell him to stand down."

Zeus ran a hand through his hair with an annoyed tut. "Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Ares?"

He couldn't have looked more crazy if he'd tried, his face red and sweaty. "I overheard him plotting against us, father. We can't let him off the hook again."

Percy didn't even bother to dispute the claims, looking every inch a figure who wanted to die. Everything about him seemed to suggest resignation at the prospect of his immanent death, from the almost bored and certainly tired eyes to the slumped posture which I had never seen stop fighting until the very end.

"You see?" Ares sensed his advantage excitedly, "He doesn't even disagree!"

The friendly Olympians looked at the demigod pleadingly, begging him to tell the truth and argue for his life. It was obvious that Zeus would be the deciding factor, because Ares would listen to nobody else. Percy replied with a heart breaking apologetic look.

Zeus shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'well, what can I do', but in reality he felt only exhilaration at the fact that the pest of the demigod, the boy who had been a nuisance to him for the best part of a decade, could finally be about to meet his end.

"Why is he doing this?" I heard Apollo mutter to his sister.

She simply shrugged her shoulders, maybe a unique way of expressing her own sorrow because normally she had something to say to any question. As somebody who understood her nature, I knew that she would be feeling totally riled at having to sit there, unable to anything because of the risk that Ares would pull the trigger. Poseidon looked like he was feeling the same, his whole body expressing a deep rage and a desire to rip the War God apart.

"Brother, children." Zeus put up his hands to form an apologetic gesture. "If the boy will not disagree with Ares then we have to assume that the claims are true. Maybe it would be better to get this problem sorted once and for all."

"No!" Ares was knocked off his feet from a surprise charge from behind. Upon impact, his finger clenched down on the trigger and fired but the racing bullet missed Percy by a hair's width. Thalia stood panting with relief that the shot hadn't killed her friend and at that moment I could have kissed her – with the daring act she had saved Percy. Looking at Artemis and Apollo, I was pretty sure that they were feeling the same although to be fair, Apollo always had that look on his face when staring at pretty girls. His was a bit of a womaniser. Our advantage didn't last long, however, as Ares was back on his feet before any of us could react. He raised the pistol again, but this time his blind rage made him point it towards the person who'd knocked him over. Thalia stopped in her tracks and held up her hands. Surely, her father wouldn't allow her to die? Right?

It was incredible how much a situation could change in half a minute. "Ares!" Zeus roared. "How dare you point a gun at _my _daughter?"

Anger getting the better of his common sense, the King of all the Gods charged at his son. Ares did what his instincts told him – he fired again, the third bullet of the magazine. A look of remarkable calm graced Thalia's face as she closed her eyes and waited for death to come upon her. As her best friend, I knew that this had always been the way that she'd wanted to die – saving a friend. I'm not sure who's cry of anguish was worse – mine or Artemis'. The hunter lieutenant opened her eyes a fraction to send us looks of apology. It really was amazing how much could happen in a second.

The bullet never hit Thalia, but still I lost a different old friend that night.

**Heeheehee. Enjoy that ending, guys. I'm actually really happy with that chapter, so hopefully you will be too. Took up a large quantity of my weekend, so how about one million reviews for a faithful writer. No, but seriously. I'd love to hear what you have to say about that because I'm well aware that not everybody will not have enjoyed it. Somebody called 'Guest' reviewed last time to basically say that they didn't want this to happen, so yeah. Sorry about that. I just did what I felt was right. If I can get twenty-thirty reviews then I'm much more likely to get chapter 9 out for Tuesday. So please drop a review if you really value the work that I do. Thanks, and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Charlie.**

**P.S – I've left a review of my own to reply to all of the reviews that I'd seen, but obviously since then a couple of people commented after I'd already put the review. So sorry to you guys, it wasn't any prejudice or anything, I just didn't count on getting any reviews after the 24 hour frenzy. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**A lot of reviews last time, keep it up! Here's me fulfilling my side of the bargain.**

**Annabeth's POV**

I'd always been one to keep a good control over my emotions, definitely something which came naturally to all children of Athena, but even I could not help but scream as the gun fired. One of Ares' deadly celestial bronze bullets, sharper than a scalpel and as explosive as a small cannon, burst viciously from the end of the black handgun with a boom and a large cloud of smoke. A few metres away, Artemis let out a similar cry of anguish in synchronization with my own as she witnessed the immanent death of her finest hunter. Thalia looked at us, a reassuring smile dancing gracefully on her lips. _Don't worry about me, _she seemed to say. _This is what I want._ It certainly wasn't what I wanted and I felt my eyes unintentionally close. Although hating myself for not returning my friend's look, I know that I just couldn't watch as she died. I'd already been forced to witness that before, but on that occasion Zeus had intervened by turning her into a tree. There was a sudden roar from the crowd, a gasp of disbelief and yet another cry. Recognising the deep, usually calm voice of Poseidon, I knew what had happened even before I opened my eyes. Percy had taken that bullet for her, launching himself into a movie-like dive into the path of the racing projectile. He wouldn't survive; that bullet had the speed and sharpness to pierce straight through him and surely he knew it.

What erupted could only be described as pure chaos. Mortals screamed and tried to run from the gunman, scared that it could be them next to feel the cold metal of one of his bullets. I could vaguely hear the annoying blare of police sirens from far away across the city. Artemis and Apollo made a lunge for the War God as they drew their bows but he dodged them and drew a sandwich from his pocket. Under any normal circumstance, that would have looked a little strange as he wielded the tasty snack like a deadly weapon. Unfortunately, in this city a dangerous weapon was exactly what it was. The fleeing mortals turned around and all of their eyes focused on the small package of food. Ares threw the sandwich down in front of him and within seconds, the hungry mortals were crowding around it and trying to grab scraps like vultures at a carcass. Aided by his improvised barricade, the War God ran down one of the dodgy looking back alleys, scarpering from the retribution of the Olympic Court. Artemis threw down her bow with a furious cry, knowing that he had escaped them for now.

"Where is my son?" Poseidon boomed, standing at the very spot where Percy had made his leap. Half a metre from him, his brother kneeled next to an unconscious Thalia; she must have been knocked over when Percy had jumped in front of her. Poseidon's son truly was nowhere to be seen, it really was as if he had vanished into thin air.

Zeus stood up and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. "If he is alive we will find him, brother. I promise."

Apollo jogged over and checked Thalia's pulse, gently examining her for any signs of concussion or injury. "You have my promise, too. I will not rest until I find him."

We must have been sharing the same thought process because Artemis didn't answer. He'd been hit full on by one of Ares' bullets – a search to find him would probably take quite a long time, i.e. forever. At that point, my mother came and whisked me away and rebuked me for ever being friends with that 'danger hazard'. I didn't regret a single second of it, however, because that 'danger hazard' had been my best friend, he had been my boyfriend and he had been the bravest demigod I'd ever known. Finally, tears of deep sorrow began to roll down my cheeks as I walked with my mother away from the area. If one thing was for sure it was that I never wanted to see that cursed square again.

**Percy's POV**

In the chaos I saw my perfect opportunity to get away. If there was one thing that I really didn't want it was to die with all of those guys, the people who'd pretended to be my friends, fawning over me. Peace was what I needed at that moment, just some alone time so that I could come to terms with my passing. As soon as I'd made the jump, I had known that my dad would try to get to me and Zeus would want to reach Thalia, who was lying unconscious nearby. I had to act quickly and take advantage of the fact that the shrieking city inhabitants were creating a barrier between me and everyone else. My mouth contorted into a grimace at the horrible pain of having a bullet embedded deep inside my stomach. It seemed to have missed any of my major organs but I doubted that I'd last more than fifteen minutes. The pain was almost overwhelming, literally as if acid was eating away at my insides. Describing it was difficult but honestly, it was probably more pain than you could ever imagine: bad enough that band aids couldn't fix it, and I'd grown up learning that those miracle tools could fix anything. I started to crawl away from the fray.

After about five minutes of agonising pain I managed to get about one hundred metres, far enough that I could hide around a corner outside the square. It wasn't as if they weren't going to find me lying there at some point, but I reckoned that they'd be occupied for ten minutes with everything that was on their plate in the square. As death beds went, it wasn't the worse place that I could have been in. Sure, the bumpy cobbles were dirty and more than a bit uncomfortable, and yes there was a lot of noise coming from the nearby square, but... Okay, I admit it. It was a pretty lousy place to die.

"Beggars can't be choosers," I reminded myself with a cough of blood. My head rested against the wall of a house and I closed my eyes, waiting for the death that I had fought to avoid for my entire life to finally catch up with me. Gods, I'd been running away from it for long enough. Lying in a pool of my precious, scarlet blood, my eyes closed and I slipped into blissful unconsciousness.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in the middle of a modern weaving shop. Lining the walls were miniature woven dolls, knitted jumpers like the ones that people got for Christmas and a network of long lines of thread. A miscellany of colours both light and dark decorated the floor and the roof. I heard a sinister chanting from behind a beaded doorway and curiosity lead me to go and peek through the long strings of beads. Three elderly women, hag-like in appearance, stooped over a sowing machine muttering words in ancient Greek; one was spinning the thread, another was measuring it and the third one lay in wait with a pair of shears to cut the line when it was ready. I'd seen them before, just about a decade ago now, when they'd stood on the road side weaving what I'd thought as socks. As it had turned out, they'd been working on the thread of Luke Castellan's life. In front of me were the Fates, and I knew that they were deciding my destiny.

"I am ready to die!" I exclaimed loudly, hoping to attract their attention. If this was going to be the end then I hoped that I would be able to do it on my own terms. Death welcomed me and I welcomed death – a life of being chased by Ares, friendless, unloved and alone was not the one for me. Annoyingly, my brave outcry was totally ignored as they continued their business.

"They will not listen to you." An old, intelligent voice flowed from the corner of the room. There, I saw a white bearded man leaning against the wall. His eyes were full of knowledge and his face aged, a wrinkle for every century that he had lived, but unlike the Fates I had never seen him before.

My words came out more bluntly than I'd intended. "Who are you?"

He chuckled humorously but the smile never reached his eyes. This guy meant business. "It is funny how little I am recognised today even though I am the father of everything you know. My name is Ouranos, Percy Jackson, and like you I despise the Olympians."

I looked down at the floor, my foot shuffling the dust around. This guy certainly wasn't somebody who I trusted yet and I didn't like the fact that he seemed to be trying to ally with me. "I don't hate _all_ of them."

He examined me carefully and I shivered, getting the impression that he could read exactly what was on my mind and my memories. I must have been as easy to read as a book. "No." He agreed with a slow nod of his head. "You feel a kinship with Artemis because you have helped each other, you are friendly with Apollo and currently you have mixed feelings about your father."

I didn't like the fact that he could invade my privacy, that at least something that the Olympians hadn't done to me. "I've met your wife, by the way. A real charmer."

His eyes blazed at my mention of Gaia but quickly calmed down again. I got the impression that he wanted to use me for something, and if he needed me then I could definitely boast some authority. "I am here to offer you a choice, Persueus." He told me calmly. "You can return to life, unwounded and healthy, or you can go straight to Hades. Only you can decide whether you want to live or die, and the Fates will agree with whatever choice that you make."

"Why are you giving me this choice when I can make it without your help?" I asked inquisitively. "I could make myself die by simply not receiving medical help for my wound, or I could survive by getting myself treated."

Ouranos shook his head. "Not true. If you do not choose here, then it will no longer be in your hands. I am offering you a guarantee with added perks – if you return then you will no longer bear your injury and if you die then it will be painless."

"Well then I choose to die. There is nothing out there left for me." I decided quickly but surely.

He looked at me oddly and once again I felt the invasion of my privacy. If he was checking that I really was as keen to pass away as I was saying then he wasn't going to find anything to contradict what I said. My decision was totally truthful and from my heart.

"Hopefully, I'll be able to change your mind on that." He told me after a short while. "Here, let me show you something."

Before I could react, he'd grabbed my arm and suddenly we were back in the square of the Cursed City. Nobody reacted to our appearance, leading me to believe that we were invisible to their eyes. His argument was simple enough that he didn't even need to say anything, gesticulating for me to look around. Thalia had woken up and was sobbing uncontrollably, her ultimate sacrifice having gone horribly wrong. Beside her sat Artemis, who put a reassuring arm around her lieutenant. There were bare traces of tears on her cheeks too, quite a feat for somebody who hadn't been ever known to cry for anyone other than one of her hunters. Watching them awkwardly stood the rest of the hunters, looks of respect for me (I hoped) on their faces, the one acceptable boy who had saved one of their own. Deciding that we'd seen enough from that particular scene, Ouranos guided me silently to another part of the city where Annabeth ranted at her mother for not getting involved and helping to stop Ares.

"You should have helped, mother!" She cried openly, an accusing finger pointed at the Goddess of Wisdom. "How can you still not respect him after all that he has done?"

Athena nodded her head unabashedly. "Yes, I agree that he was... brave."

"Is that all?" Annabeth virtually screamed. "You think that one word does him justice? And please stop talking about him in the past tense!"

Apparently that was all we needed to see as Ouranos took us to our final destination. We stood solemnly next to my body, curled up in an ever growing pool of blood, on a dirty street corner. I couldn't deny that it was kind of weird seeing myself dreaming from the dream that I was dreaming of. Paradox.

"You deserve better than this, Percy." He surprised me by finally talking. When he spoke he really did sound like he cared about my image, sounding almost like a fatherly figure. "Is this a fitting end for the Saviour of Olympus? The demigod who closed the Doors of Death, passing away in a puddle of muddy water on the pavement of a street corner?"

Sure, it wasn't the most attractive place to die, but I'd never expected a coffin-side twelve gun salute to honour my name – I just wanted everything to be normal. "Ouranos, why are you doing this anyway? Why are you helping me with these two choices and why are you trying to persuade me to live again?"

"I like you, Perseus Jackson. You are one of the few demigods who do not bend over backwards for the Olympians, I have been watching you for longer than you might think." He answered honestly. For the first time that day I actually thought that he was telling the entire truth. "The world needs more demigods like you, Perseus."

Accepting his answer, I knew that it was decision time.

**Artemis' POV**

**About fifteen minutes later**

I knew a hero when I saw one, and believe me when I say that Percy Jackson definitely applied for this honour. I'd never, ever experienced a few seconds like the ones that had occurred earlier that day. First there was the horror as Ares pulled the trigger on his pistol, launching a bullet at my best hunter, a girl who I would proudly call a companion and a friend. Losing her would have been like the Zoe incident all over again. I'd then felt horribly but unintentionally relieved when the boy had made his heroic dive into the path of the speeding shot, letting it rip into his stomach so that it would not reach the girl who he was blocking. And then, as he collapsed to the floor with blood already dripping from the deep and surely lethal wound, I felt anguish that he had died. He would definitely go down as the one man who I respected and I truly was sorry to see him go, a feeling of profound emptiness emerging in my chest. It struck me that I liked him; he was nice, occasionally funny, brave, honest. I felt a sorrow as if he had been one of my own hunters. Maybe most of all, I experienced gratitude to him for saving the life of Thalia. It was a debt of honour that I would never forget. Thalia herself had struggled to come to terms with what had happened, absolutely hating the idea that she had been partially responsible for the death of her friend. She'd let out her tears and sadness for a few minutes before running off with the rest of the hunters to scour the city. If there was any chance that he was still alive then she would continue to search; it was her way of dealing with the pain. She would never be satisfied unless convinced that she had done absolutely everything in her power to help, one of the many things that I admired about her. As for me, I was going to have to sit out on that one. Exhaustion was coming over me at an uncontrollable rate, the amount of physical and mental trouble that I had gone through in the last few days being just too much to manage at that point.

As I closed my eyes and laid back against the statue, I felt a figure slip onto the step beside me. They didn't make any noise, obviously respecting my need to sleep and I was grateful for that. Opening my eyes just a slither to see who it was, I felt myself sigh and roll my eyes as I reminded myself never to mourn the loss of a hero again. Still, a small smile spread over my lips.

"You jammy.." I started the sentence before a yawn stopped me from finishing it. He chuckled lightly, able to guess the kind of thing that I would have said had the sentence ended. The tale for how he had survived would have to wait for another time, for I was too tired even for my eyes to open. Slumping back against the boy next to me, quickly I fell into an uninhibited and well deserved slumber.

**Still not my favourite chapter but I've gone back to correct all of the mistakes and iron out some problems with flow. I guess it's okay now, but still not great. The fact that I've updated this doesn't mean that I'm necessarily going to be posting chapters again in the next few days, but I do promise that I've had some juicy ideas and I am definitely feeling that I want to get them down. So just to repeat that, I have started writing again and hopefully you can expect the next chapter by mid-week. **

**See you soon!**

**PS: Idea about the Fates and Primeval Gods was given to me by 'The Invisible Pretender', so all due credit to him, guys. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Glad I took a break in the end but don't believe that this signifies my full return. No, I'm only going to be updating on a relatively slow basis for a short while so that I don't exhaust myself again. Tell me what you think at the end. Oh yeah, and one more thing: I don't know how many of you have read the new PJ book but from now on, obviously I'll be using stuff from the 'House of Hades' which could result in spoilers. So read at your own risk.**

**Percy's POV**

That morning, I woke up to a very familiar environment. I lay in the top bunk of a pacifying bed swathed in enough blankets to warm a titan who'd very inconveniently found himself in the middle of Antarctica. Seriously, there were so many that it took a large physical effort to push them all off. There were five other bunk beds in the long and low cabin, all of them empty, and a sparkling water fountain sat at the end, gently glittering as it waited to be used. The walls glowed softly like sea snails and entire building smelled like a pleasant afternoon on the beach. Peering out of the windows, corals and rare sea plants "more beautiful than the Demeter kids could whip up" (as I'd commented a few years before) decorating their sills, the only view was the nearby beach. Decorating the ceiling were intricate bronze hippocampi, the proud work of a Cyclops' delicate hands. This was home.

Energetically, I jumped from my top bunk and landed on the floor with a loud thud. That was probably the one good thing about having such a sparsely populated cabin – there were no disputes over bunks, showers, noise or whatever siblings generally argued about. I walked over to the bathroom and switched on the shower, concentrating my energy into warming up the water. The guarantee of having a warm shower every morning had to be just about the coolest power I had as a son of Poseidon and I allowed myself a smile as I stripped off the clothes that I'd been wearing for days before stepping under the powerful stream of water. My hands ran through my hair, sifting out the horrible grease which had accumulated since the last time I'd washed.

What am I doing here? I asked myself for the first time. The last time I'd be conscious I'd been hundreds of miles away with the goddess of the hunt resting her head on my shoulder. Now I was back home, a place I hadn't been in five years. I shrugged my shoulders as my hands spread shampoo around in my raven black hair; by this point in my life I'd learnt not to ask too many questions. I thoroughly rubbed all of the dirt and grime from my body, feeling as if I was washing away any remnants of my life in exile and starting again. I stepped out of the shower and automatically I was dry, another of the many showering-related assets of being Poseidon's son. Waiting for me in my chest of drawers were some neatly folded, orange camp t-shirts and sea blue jeans. As I put them on I found that they fit absolutely perfectly – somebody was looking out for me. I instinctively checked that I was looking okay before stepping outside into the day. The sky was a clear blue, a pleasant wind blew around, birds tweeted and sang. My spirits felt like they could not have been dampened. Not a soul was in sight, telling me that it was time for breakfast. I made my way towards the food pavilion.

**Jason's POV**

Piper was breaking the rules... again. Whilst everybody else sat with their siblings, assigned to their own tables, as usual she'd made her way over to the lonely Zeus table to eat with me. Obviously I was grateful for it, eating alone was, well, lonely, and it was actually an arrangement that suited us both pretty well. As I said, I enjoyed having some company over breakfast and her own siblings clearly got on her nerves a bit but still, she was supposed to be her cabin's counsellor so she was obviously supposed to be with the other children of Aphrodite. I wasn't a guy who naturally broke the rules just like that, my years with the stricter Romans having made sure of that, and it kind of made me feel uneasy. Still, it was nice to see her.

"Jason, seriously." Piper rolled her eyes at me as she crammed a bit of toast down her throat. "They really don't care. Annabeth says that she used to go to Percy's table all the time."

I grumbled some unheard complaint about the rules and she laughed loudly enough to attract the attention of numerous other campers. "Come on, do you really want to eat alone?"

Before I could answer, a strange silence suddenly came over the pavilion. All chatting came to a halt and the eyes of everybody focused on the door. One person shouted out, "That's Percy Jackson!"

I looked around quickly; although I had been told that he had been brought back, somehow I just couldn't believe that he could possibly be there. I mean, I hadn't seen the guy in half a decade. Percy stood frozen and awkward at the door, his eyes begging for everybody to just get back to their meals. The poor guy probably just wanted to be treated like a normal person and the fact that everybody was staring at him expectantly surely didn't help. It was as if they were expecting him to stand up and make a speech or something. Instead, he slipped down onto his exclusive table and looked down at the floor. He obviously really didn't want this attention. A certain blonde-haired girl from the Athena table walked over and whispered something in his ear; still there was silence over the pavilion.

She pointed towards me and Piper and I could swear that I saw him shudder, grimacing profusely. Jeez, way to make a guy feel wanted.

"He's probably just making that face because of all the attention that he's getting." Piper reassured me, a little bit of soothing charm speak in her voice.

As Annabeth returned to her table, wood nymphs came to consult Percy about his choice of food. Still he didn't make eye contact with anybody, least of all me or Piper.

My girlfriend nudged me gently. "You should go and speak to him. I bet he just needs a friend right now."

It seemed to me that a heart-to-heart at that point would be like shooting myself in the foot (with a tank), but those Aphrodite eyes and cute pout were near impossible to deny. Saying no to Piper was like telling an adorable dog ,waiting hopefully at your feet with a frisbee in its mouth, to bugger off: infeasible.  
"Fine!" I grumbled frustratedly. "I'll go and talk to the guy. Happy now?"

Piper's pout turned into a victoriously smug and playful smile; she was persuasive and she knew it.

Running a hand through my soft and wispy hair nervously, I pulled myself up from the bench and forced myself over to the son of Poseidon. Still the pavilion was silent. If he noticed me coming, he certainly didn't show it as he continued to stare down at the white and purple table cloth.

"Uh, hi?" I spoke uncertainly. "You remember me, right?"

Percy didn't reply, in fact he didn't even acknowledge my presence. It was as if there was a particular spot of the table cloth which intrigued him above anything else in the entire world. Of course, as one of his friends (or ex-friends?) I knew/hoped that this was just because he didn't like the stir that his return had caused. I glanced at Piper, who gave me an encouraging thumbs up.

I sat down next to him. "Look, man. If you don't want me here then you can just say."

Suddenly, he stood up and finally looked at everybody else in the dining pavilion. He smashed his beaker of coke to the floor with a violent throw, spreading shards of glass metres in every direction. His green eyes blazed with a fury that I had never known them to possess. "Stop staring!" He bellowed at the other campers. Still he hadn't made eye contact with me. The ground shook mildly beneath our feet – not exactly a life threatening quake but strong enough to knock plates, dishes, glasses and cutlery to the floor. He truly was the Earthshaker's son.

Without another glance in our direction, he stormed from the sea-view hilltop.

**Chiron's POV**

I had never thought that letting Percy return to Camp Half-Blood would be a calm or uneventful process, but even I had not guessed that he would summon and earthquake just because people were _looking _at him. It was a real nuisance, actually, and it would be difficult to persuade critics of the poor boy's return that this would be a one-off. Maybe that was because I didn't believe it myself. The amount of valuable china that he'd destroyed, although hardly unfixable, would be enough to put him on dish cleaning duty for a couple months and then Dionysus would likely want to punish him more for ruining his breakfast.

Now don't get me wrong, Percy had been through a lot. In fact, he'd basically gone through everything there was for a demigod to go through. Artemis had told me of his more recent adventures: nearly being killed by a poisonous arrow, then fighting off Ares despite being in a weakened state, then duelling Ares _again_ and this time losing, then jumping in the way of a lethal bullet meant for Thalia and finally somehow surviving and his wound being healed inexplicably. That just about covered the last few days of Percy Jackson's life, and in that time he'd _already _gone through more than many of the demigods in my camp. Artemis put the fact that his wound had healed down to assistance from a higher power and I couldn't say that I disagreed, but what interested me most was the strong connection that she and Percy seemed to have building up. Concern had been evident in her voice when she was telling the story and she'd made me promise on the River Styx to do everything in my power to keep him safe at the camp. I couldn't quite put my finger on the nature of this bonding but whatever it was, I'd never seen it before from Artemis with a boy. But anyway, that wasn't the pressing issue. The problem was that I needed to make Percy safe, because I could not see him staying at the camp for very long. Outcasts always found it difficult to re-emerse themselves in society because they grew so used to being alone that they found it difficult to live in any other way.

Trying to solve the issue, I headed on my way to the Poseidon cabin with Annabeth at my side. Other than Thalia, I saw her as my main weapon.

"He's just not like he was," Annabeth explained unintentionally worriedly, although she seemed to be trying to say it more matter-of-factly as if she didn't care about him. They'd obviously been arguing. "He's more hostile, grumpy, mistrusting, suspicious. I don't know whether he'll ever be the same again."

I shrugged my shoulders apologetically. "I know that you want answers, my girl, but I'm afraid that I just don't have them."

She drummed her fingers against her leg nervously. "I just don't want him ending up like..."

Halfway through her sentence, she stopped. I had a feeling that I knew who she meant. "Like who?"

The daughter of Athena glared at me for not taking the message. "Nobody. Forget that I said anything."

"You're worried that he's going to follow the same path as Luke." I nodded gently. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

I didn't get an answer and the rest of the journey was silent as we both thought. Was it possible that Percy would be another Luke? He definitely had the resentment at the gods that I'd seen in Luke, the courage and the strong will to really believe that by going against them he'd be helping the world.

We arrived at the grey cabin, its walls covered with pebbles and sea rocks as if we were looking at a slab of the ocean floor. I spread my arm, gesturing for her to knock and she did so.

"Who is it?" Came the frustrated voice of a young adult inside.

Beside me, Annabeth was about to call out but I hushed her. Percy would be more likely to invite me in than her. "Chiron."

There was a short silence and an obvious sigh before he answered. "Come on in then."

I reached out to turn the doorknob before squeezing myself through the narrow door, which really wasn't designed for the convenience of centaurs. Most unfair if you asked me. It wasn't often that I ventured into one of the cabins but I supposed that Percy was a hardly a normal case - quite the opposite.

Poseidon's son didn't move from where he lazed on his bed. "What do you want, Chiron? If you want to talk about the whole earthquake thing then-"

He stopped talking as Annabeth walked through the door before rolling his eyes at the fact that Chiron hadn't decided to grace him with the knowledge that they'd have company. Then, he continued, "-then I want you to know that I am sorry. I know that it must have been inconvenient."

Struggling to find any space big enough for me to make myself comfortable, I shook my head. "No, that's not why I'm here although for the record, that must never happen again. Some sort of minor punishment will be in order."

He opened his mouth to protest but I raised a finger, silencing him. "But I'm really here to talk about why that happened. What made you feel so angry that you summoned an earthquake?"

He scratched his head, looking downwards awkwardly. "I guess I didn't expect everyone to recognise me. I mean, when Annabeth saw me yesterday she didn't. They all stared at me as if I was some kind of exhibit, y'know?"

At least he looked ashamed of his outburst, a good sign as far as I was concerned. "However much I'm sure that was annoying, I do think that there must be other things on your mind."

He looked up at me, a sudden insanity burning in his eyes. "Of course there are other things on my mind. I've been all the way through Tartarus! I can't even begin to describe what that place does to you! I've worked so, so hard to forget about it over the last few years but being back here, seeing Jason and Piper again, everything came back to me."

He looked like a patient from a lunatic asylum, his eyes glowing with that madness, his hair sticking up at random angles from places on his scalp, his fingers fiddling with a strand of thread from his t-shirt. It didn't take Athena to realise that the person who I was looking at was a very, very troubled young man indeed. I turned to Annabeth, "Well how did _you_ get over it, my girl?"

Percy butted in. "I can answer that: she hasn't got over it. Her disguise is good, I'll give you that, but I know that she has been hiding the fact that she still has nightmares about that place every single time she falls asleep. It's the same with me, it's the same with Nico. You can't just put it behind you."

Answering my inquisitive look, Annabeth confirmed what the son of Poseidon had said with a slow nod. I can't deny that this hurt me; the blonde-haired demigod had come to me for advice on her problems ever since she'd arrived at this camp. The fact that she'd been hiding the biggest difficulty that she'd ever faced from me, it hurt. "Well," I stuttered terribly, the meeting having taken a turn for the worse. I didn't see how I could talk to Percy about something that I could so obviously never comprehend. "As long as you don't ever blow up like that again..."

I just wanted to be out of the cabin, away from Percy, who was just a pale imitation of what he had once been. I remembered when he used to crack jokes and have a regular smile on his face; sure, anger management had never been his speciality but today's incident took everything to a new level. I just didn't know where I was with him.

**Percy's POV**

I managed to keep myself cooped up alone in my cabin for most of the day, only briefly emerging once to stretch my legs, but there was no denying that I was going to have to return to the pavilion for dinner. I splashed my face with ice cold water, I breathed in and out slowly. Anything to calm myself down and ensure that I could handle whatever was thrown at my self control. Arriving at the dining pavilion a few minutes early this time, I sat down on my bench and waited.

I heard an unbearably squeaky, pre-adolescent voice behind me. "Oh. My. Gods. Are you actually Percy Jackson? _The _Percy Jackson?"

The boy came and stood by my table, so short that his eyes were barely peeking over the eating surface. He had short brown hair and excitable eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Erm, yeah?" I replied uncertainly, raising my eyebrows.

His grin grew even wider, something that I hadn't thought humanly possible. "I've wanted to meet you for sooo long, everyone told me that I never would but here you are and here I am and we're talking and please can I have your autograph?"

My brain blanked on me, the kid's words too fast to be discernible. "Sorry, I don't speak Azerbaijan."

His smiling face blushed slightly and he repeated himself this time painfully slowly. If it had been anyone else then I would have assumed them to be taking the piss but this kid just seemed so clueless, incapable of intentionally annoying someone and yet managing to do it excessively anyway.

"Is this a joke?" I half smiled at him blankly. Other people were beginning to file onto their tables and a fair few of them pointed at us, laughing; it was relatively obvious that the kid was the subject of a lot of gags.

"What do you mean?" The child asked, "You're the guy who found Zeus his master bolt, saved the camp by finding the golden fleece, held the sky whilst Artemis fought Atlas, navigated the Labyrinth, lead the Battle of Manhattan, closed the Doors of Death. And more!"

Jeez, the guy knew more about me than I did. At least he wasn't wearing a 'Percy Jackson Fan Club' t-shirt. "Dude, I didn't do any of that single-handedly. You see Annabeth, the one with the blonde hair on the Athena table? She was there for all of the quests. Go get her autograph."

He gave me a pout. "Can't I have yours?"

I shook my head. "I don't want to feel like some movie star, handing out pieces of paper with my name on them but seriously man, you're welcome to come and speak to me whenever. What's your name by the way?"

"Felix, son of Tyche." He extended his hand.

I took it warmly. "Tyche, Goddess of... Luck?" I strained my brain to remember who his mother was. Definitely one of the ones who had been given a cabin at camp after the Battle of Manhattan.

Felix patted me on the back as if I'd just answered a million dollar question. "Well done, Percy!"

Again, with anyone else I would have found this condescending and annoying but I just couldn't with this boy – all social skills seemed to just pass him by. His voice was horribly high pitched, his character sickeningly enthusiastic and he annoyingly seemed to view me as some kind of minor god but somehow, I didn't mind him. He just had such ridiculous innocence that I simply couldn't dislike him.

"Well anyway," Felix told me regretfully. "I've gotta go and sit at my table, but I'll see you around, right?"

Okay, I said that I liked him but that didn't mean that I wanted to spend any time with him. _Okay, _I told myself. _You're going to tell him that you don't want to see him around. _"Of course I'll see you around!" I found myself answering. He held out his hand and I high fived it with an internal grimace. Clutching his hand as if it had just been blessed by all of the Olympians at once, he staggered off.  
"Damn!" I heard him say a few metres away. "I should have worn that t-shirt."

Scratch what I said earlier about the fact that he didn't have a 'Percy Jackson Fan Club' t-shirt.

I found myself ignoring everything else that was happening as dinner went on, something that was much easier when they weren't all staring at me. Chiron appeared to have had a word with them about that, and although I was still getting frequent glances from certain campers I could generally sit in peace. My stomach rumbled greedily as my dinner landed on the table and I began to did in ferociously.

Jason walked past me on his way to the brazier. "Aren't you going to make an offering to your dad?"

I shook my head, my mouth too full of hamburger to reply verbally. If I was entering into the 'understatement of the century' award, I would've told him that the Olympians weren't my favourite people at that moment. That included my dad.

"Do you have a death wish?" Jason asked me incredulously. "Don't be so stubborn and just come and throw some food into the flames. Gods, you don't need any _more _enemies on the council."

I knew that I was being obstinate but I held my ground, showing this by putting another large chunk of hamburger into my mouth.

Jason sighed frustratedly. "Fine, be a stubborn idiot."

People had overheard our conversion and quickly, mutterings began to spread like an infectious disease across the tables. "Percy's not giving any offerings!" "Is he trying to get us all cursed?" "I wonder what happened between him and the gods."

The last thing I needed was more attention on me so with a giant sigh, I got up and made my way to the bath tub sized flaming brazier. Taking a chunk of my hamburger, I pushed it into the flames and enjoyed the smell that resulted. It seemed to satisfy the gossip grapevine but secretly, I hadn't offered it to my dad at all. My food had been sent towards Artemis.

"Happy now?" I mouthed towards Jason, who was watching me carefully from his table and he rolled his eyes; to be fair, I was being obviously unpleasant.

Quickly, I gobbled up the rest of my food and took a big swig of my coke before taking my leave from the pavilion. As far as I was concerned, the less time I spent around other people the less likely I was to cause more problems for Chiron. Away from the ring of bright, glowing flames which encircled the pavilion the night was dark and it was only my perfect memory of the camp which put me on the right course back to my cabin. My stroll was a slow one, after all, there was no hurry to get anywhere when I'd left everybody else back at the pavilion.

A meaty, thick and very colloquial voice shouted behind me. "Hey, Jackson. We heard that you insulted our dad."

Why did people always feel the need to prove me wrong? With a titanic sigh, I turned round ready for a brawl with the enemies, who were obviously Ares' boys. I'd already put in my candidate for the 'biggest understatement of the century award', but in saying that I'd had one or two feuds with Ares' kids in my past would be another contender for the prize.

Before I could make some kind of witty remark, I felt a swift punch to my stomach and ignoring the pain in my gut, I whistled appreciatively. "Good punch! Been working on that for a long time, haven't you? Well, what's your next move?"

The skinhead who'd punched me scratched his head confusedly. "To be honest most people kind of fall to the floor retching after the first punch. I hadn't planned that far ahead."

It was clear that I wasn't dealing with any intellectuals. "Well, maybe I should make my move?"

The skinhead shrugged his shoulders. "Seems fair enough to me."

"You idiot!" One of the other skinheads rebuked him, "You're not supposed to let him hit you, you're supposed to keep on hitting _him_."

Too late. All of the moves that I'd perfected over the billions of fights that I'd contested came back to me as I directed a blow at his face. A resonating crack sounded as my fist met his nose, the familiar noise of a breakage. Before he could react, I kicked out at his legs and took his footing from under him, sending him tumbling to the floor in an undignified heap. Another kick to the ribs ensured that he'd be out of action for the next couple of weeks. I had very little time to appreciate my handiwork, however, as two punches came at me from opposite directions, one for each of the other two skinheads. Relying on their lack of brain cells, I simply ducked and grinned as their knuckles met in mid-air. They stopped to shake their fists in pain and I took full advantage, flipping the smaller of the two over with a pull on his arm and finishing the other with a classic, full on punch to the stomach. The end result? Three children of Ares lying in a pile at my feet. Cheerfully rubbing my hands together in the aftermath of the thrill of the fight, I made to return to my cabin for the night.

From a tall tree came a slow, appreciative clap. I turned to see Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, jump down from a thin branch.

"Very impressive." She nodded her congratulations. "Would you like to walk with me?"

My answer, of course, was yes.

**Hope that I was worth the wait, I personally am very happy with the way that it went. It's amazing what you can do once the idea springs into your head. I've also decided that I won't be consistently updating every other day any more, that will only happen when the opportunity arises. If I have two days in a row where I can write then you can expect a new chapter, but I don't want to feel the pressure of having to update that quickly any more. Never fear though, I will still be putting them out hopefully at least once every three days. This was a five and a half page chapter. 20 reviews for a hard working author? The next chapter is almost ready and with the right incentive, I could be persuaded to put it up within the next 24 hours...**

**Happy to be back in the business,**

**Charlie.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**I hope that you enjoy this, we're getting pretty close to the start of the Pertimus action now. This chapter is going to be very much Percy dominated, I think, but I haven't quite decided yet. **

**Percy's POV**

"So, how are you settling in?" Artemis asked me civilly. We strolled down by the sea front, sand crunching beneath our feet and the froth at the ends of waves softly lapping at our ankles. In the darkness she seemed to glow lightly and silvery like the moon does, I found myself wondering whether she could stop herself from doing that. It couldn't have been an asset in stealth.

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. "Okay, I suppose although I did cause a minor earthquake."

She looked at me oddly but obviously decided that maybe it would be better not to ask. That night she was in her eighteen year old form as she was most of the time when we conversed. This always made me grateful – somehow she was much more imposing as a twelve year old. That probably doesn't make much sense but you'll have to trust me on this one.

"I thought that I'd enjoy being home a lot more than I am, to be honest." I decided to tell her, realising that she was the first person that I'd shared this with. "Being back, seeing everyone again, it just reminds me of five years ago."

"Tartarus?" She whispered understandingly and I nodded in reply, unintentionally shuddering at the thought. I tried to block the images of Bob sacrificing himself from returning to my thoughts.

She noticed my grimace and a pitying look spread across her face. "I can't even imagine what it must be like down there."

"Just being there... hurts." I couldn't find a better way to describe it than that. "But I really don't want to talk about it. I just wish that I could forget it, you know? The nightmares are unbearable."

Artemis tried to show that she understood, but how could she ever comprehend what it was like to be down there? Of course she didn't understand. "Look, Percy. I didn't come here to talk about that anyway. What I need to know is how you survived, how your wound was healed without anyone tending to it."

I hadn't told anybody about Ouranos yet and somehow I'd decided that it would be for the better to keep it to myself. I'd figured that befriending the guy who the Olympians despised the most probably wouldn't make me any friends there. Deliberately not answering her question, I concentrated on forming the water beside us into interesting shapes like waterfalls and whirlwinds.

Artemis saw through my ploy to leave the question unanswered. "Nice shapes, Perseus, but you haven't responded to what I asked."

I sighed and let the water cascade back to the surface of the sea. "Promise you won't talk to anyone else about this? I was trying to keep it a secret."

Artemis nodded, her eyes narrowing as she wondered what could have happened that I was being so secretive. I promise."

Trying to read her with my eyes, I guessed that she knew how to honour an agreement. "Okay, I'll tell you, but nobody else. You and Thalia are the only two people I trust right now."

I told her of how I had crawled away and hidden behind a corner, how I had fallen asleep and then of Ouranos giving me the choice of life or death. Even trusting her with the knowledge that I had originally chosen to die, I then described the visions of her, Thalia and Annabeth that he'd showed me and how they had persuaded me to return. As I spoke I felt a weight lift from my shoulders, the burden of carrying a secret gone. I supposed that it was good to let it out.

Artemis' face carried a certain look of suspicion and brooding throughout my story. "I just don't know, Perseus. Ouranos does not just save and totally heal heroes from fatal wounds very often. If he really didn't try to make any deal with you, I beg you to exercise caution if he ever tries to contact you again. It has long been his wish to overthrow me and my family and I fear, with no offence meant here, that you would be the perfect tool for him."

I scowled at her, the water bubbling behind me as a reflection of my mood. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you don't exactly _like _us Olympians, do you?" She raised her hands defensively.

"I don't mind some of you." I replied defensively, pointedly looking at her. I couldn't resist making a brief jibe at her. "Your _older _brother's pretty cool, for instance."

Under her raised eyebrows, her eyes were glazed with a slightly amused tint. It was as if she knew that I was just joking but the very thought of Apollo being cool or older than her was offending. From previous experiences with the goddess, I was pretty sure that this was her cue to begin her jackalope threat.

I was right. "Perseus, have I ever told you that I am very proficient in the art of turning demigods into jackalopes? If you ever complement my fool of a brother again then I promise that you will promptly find yourself in the form of a small fluffy, antlered creature."

For the first time since I'd arrived at camp, I realised that I was enjoying myself. This conversation really was putting a much needed smile on my face and I noticed how good it felt for my mouth to twist into that particular shape again. Apparently, before the whole Tartarus thing I used to smile quite a lot. "A jackalope?" I snorted with a jokey mocking. "Is that the _only _animal that you could turn me into?"

"I am very good with weasels and stoats, too." She pointed a threatening finger at me, the hints of a smile on the edges of her lips.

I noted how much better she looked with a happy expression on her face, much less imposing and infinitely more friendly. "What's the difference between a weasel and a stoat?"

Artemis thought for a second before giggling childishly, a sight that I never thought I'd see. "I guess that one is weasely identifiable, but the other is stoatally different"

A snort of laughter escaped from my lips and suddenly I found myself chortling enough that my face went red, literally roaring. It wasn't even that the joke was hugely funny, more the fact that it had come from Artemis' lips; I'd thought her incapable of exercising any humour. She looked at me oddly for a short while, a wide toothy smile spread over her face. It made her frighteningly beautiful, exponentially more so than Aphrodite or Hera or Athena, the three goddesses who had historically bickered about who was the finest. In my eyes, the woman standing in front of me beat them all hands down. She had a knowing and judging face with an underlying softness made up of rounded cheek bones, a proportionally slim nose, and her rounded chin was sometimes complimented by the rare, reluctant smile. Wondrous moons of silver gazed out when her eyes turned to you. There was an obvious wild spark lingering behind those lids. Artemis adorned natural auburn hair, not groomed yet shining brilliantly, which cropped her wise face; the mane pulled back into an untidy yet functional pony tail. When let free, it cascaded like water falling down towards her shoulders where it it ended, with consistently cut tips. In her form of a young woman, she had a soft neck and narrow shoulders that formed into equally slender arms and hands. Overall her general shape was toned, a natural hourglass figure defining her chest and hips which are were moderately defined.

My laughter eventually subsided and I turned to look out to the sea. Artemis came to stand next to me. "I should return to the hunters, they will be wondering where I am."

"Of course." I replied understandingly. "Thank you for keeping me company. I haven't had such a good time since..."

She knew where my sentence had been leading before it tailed off and was quick to fill the gap. "I too have enjoyed myself. This has been most... entertaining."

"The pleasure was mine. Sleep well, and don't hesitate to come and visit again!" I wondered if my voice showed the desperation that I was feeling, because I didn't just _want_ her to visit again. I felt like I needed it.

She replied, "You too."

_Fat chance of that, _I thought with a humourless internal laugh.

Leaving me to stare out at the ocean, she disappeared with a loud crack. I was alone.

**Artemis' POV**

The next night, I found myself at the camp once more. Officially, I was there because a negotiation between me and Chiron had decided that it was a good opportunity for the next instalment in the Camp vs Hunters capture the flag rivalry. Well, I say 'rivalry', but without trying to sound full of myself, I'd just like to note that my hunters have won the last fifty six meetings despite the fact that it was played in familiar territory for the campers. My girls were simply quicker, stealthier and generally more dangerous; okay, maybe I am boasting a bit now.

Much to the displeasure of Chiron and just about the whole population of the camp, I was breaking tradition somewhat by deciding to join in myself this time. Yes, you read that correctly. _I _was going to play. To be fair, as far as I was aware there was no rule forbidding gods to join in and I _was _a hunter, so really there was no reason that they could use against me. And as I'd pointed out, the campers could easily have employed an Olympian for their own team, seeing Dionysus would surely be as excited as a child in a toy store at the prospect of joining in the fun and games. That was a joke, by the way – I don't make many of those.

The Dining Pavilion was definitely not a friendly environment, with half of it being occupied by my group of thirty girls and the other half packed with the same number of camp representatives. These rivalry matches were somewhat ironically called 'friendlies'; looking around, I would have felt more welcome at the annual guild of goddess hating monsters, proudly held in Tartarus since 1869. An amusing number of campers were glaring at me specifically, probably feeling that it wasn't fair to be against a goddess. I could understand their negative emotions – the odds were certainly stacked against them, fighting against a side who had a fifty six match winning streak and aided by a goddess. As far as I was concerned, that was tough lock. The only person who hadn't been furious had been Percy, who when I'd told him early that day had put on a slightly amused smile.

Thalia acted as my tactical assistant, telling me about their fighters. With 'friendly' capture the flag games being few and far between over the last few years (what I mean to say is that there had been none), this was her first time fighting against the campers. "They've got a good team, my lady." She told me, respecting the other team. "Percy's fighting so you'd better make sure that everyone stays away from the river in the middle."

I cut across her, raising my hand as if asking a question to a teacher. "But don't we have to get across the river twice to win the game, once on the way to get the flag and once on the return trip?"

"Yeah." Thalia shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "But he can't keep an eye on the whole river. We've just got to make sure that nobody stays near the water for too long."  
I made a mental note, actually strangely enjoying being almost tutored by my second in command. She continued, "My brother, Jason, is also going to be against us and he's got some pretty impressive powers. Then they'll have Annabeth as a strategic commander, so we'll have to be wary of that. She's won this game through strategy alone on more than one occasion. Will Solace is as good an archer as our hunters, the Stoll twins will have filled their sleeves with tricks, Jake Mason and the rest of the Hephaestus' cabin will have enough Greek fire to burn down the forest, Clarisse and her siblings would take great pleasure in fighting any of our hunters in close contact and they'd probably win. And last but not least, Pollux serves up some pretty crazy grape juice."

So, it was obvious that they hardly had a weak team. On the contrary, their fighters were ranged and had a mix of capabilities. Fighting at long range, we would win because we had more skilled archers than them. Fighting in close quarters we would still probably win unless against the Ares Cabin. And rest assured, we had some tricks up our sleeves as well.

I glanced over to the Poseidon table, to the boy who would probably prove to be our biggest threat in the game. He was sitting relaxed and freely on his cabin's bench, his legs propped up on the pure white table surface, as he stared distastefully at the sword in his hand. As far as I knew, his faithful sword 'Riptide' was being fixed by the Hephaestus cabin but wouldn't be ready for the game. He noticed me looking in his direction and sent me a knowing smirk, as if there was something that I had missed.

Before I could shoot a confident look back at him, Chiron trotted into the centre of the room and gained everyone's attention by clapping his hooves against the stone, tiled floor. He spoke from the side of the brazier. "Welcome to the traditional 'friendly' capture the flag game between campers and campers. For the benefit of new members to both groups, I will quickly recite the rules:

The aim is to take the flag from the enemy's side and bring it back across the river, which acts as the border. To win, your side's flag must also be in your possession. The entire forest is fair game, you're welcome to use magical items, flags have to be easily visible and guarded by no more than two fighters. Any prisoners must be treated with respect and can only be disarmed, no gagging or binding please, and please all of you do your best to keep the number of deaths and injuries to a minimum unless you want to lose your dessert for a week. Finally, guards can't stand within ten yards of the flag. I think that I've covered everything, so the teams can assemble and may the better side win. Good luck."

There was a massive roar from campers, presumably to plan to boost their morale and lower ours, a futile trick. We felt unbeatable.

**Percy's POV**

My life over the last few years hadn't been great, but playing capture the flag again almost made me forget that anything had ever happened. It reminded me of those comparatively carefree days back when I'd first found out that I was a demigod, when my life really had been just food, training, food and capture the flag, with only the occasional impossible quest thrown in. Those were the days. Annabeth bossing everybody around, the Stolls setting up pranks and traps; memories just flooded back. It really didn't matter to me where we lost or won, although I did think that we had a pretty nice set up. The Stolls guarding the flag, they'd work well together, treetop Apollo archers on our side of the river and three small skirmish groups to flank and surround the enemy flag from all directions. Jason was leading one, Annabeth another and Clarisse the last one. Me? My emotions and self-control had been so jumbled up recently that I didn't trust myself to do too much attacking, not to mention the fact that I was wielding some horrible lump of metal as a sword. Although I was grateful just that the Hephaestus guys reckoned that Riptide would be possible to save, I couldn't help but wish that they'd managed to fix it for tonight.  
Crouching by the river, I heard the sudden crack of a twig sound from behind a tree on the other side of the water. My body tensed as I turned round to peek; it was unlikely to be someone from my team as they were moving in groups, and had long since left any way. The forest was shrouded in the pitch black darkness of the Winter evening; I could see no hunter. Quickly reassuring myself that I'd be able to feel it if anyone crossed through the water, I crouched back down again. My ears picked up the sound of leaves crunching underfoot and instinctively I turned to look before realising my mistake: no hunter would be so noisy unless they had some kind of motive, a distraction for example...  
A dainty, female hand clasped my shoulder from behind. "I guess that you're out of the game."  
I recognised Artemis' voice, smug at the fact that she'd tricked and outsmarted me. It was higher than usual, presumably showing that she was in her twelve year old form."Maybe. Or maybe I wanted you to think that."  
Unintentionally, she faltered ever so slightly; it seemed that mind games could even work on a goddess. I sensed my advantage, calling over to the bushes on my right as if there were waiting campers there. "Guys! Come out, she fell for it!"  
As with everybody, she couldn't help but peek over to where I was directing my shouts. It had obviously crossed her mind that I was bluffing, but I only needed her to be distracted for a fraction of a second for my improvised plan to work. Escaping from her slightly loosened grip, I pushed her towards the river and held my sword up. She did the same with her hunting knives, annoyed that she had fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book. "You're good, Perseus."  
A flurry of knife blows came at me from the ridiculously scary twelve year old, although I was only ever hit by the blunt ends. She was obviously aiming to disarm and put me out of the game rather than actually injure me; I suspected that she could have killed me with barely a twitch of her finger if it had suited her. Her hunting weapons were whirlwinds at her sides, silver blades barely visible in the blurs – I did all that I could with my comparatively limited and rusty skills, raising my ugly point of celestial bronze to block the blows.  
"You're not so bad yourself," I gasped, sweat pouring down my face at the physical effort of staying with her in battle. "Kind of better than those Ares thugs last night."  
As if trying to prove my point, she delivered two simultaneous master strokes to lever the blade from my hands and catapult it metres away into the cover of darkness.  
Her eyebrows twitched slightly humorously at me. "That the kind of thing you mean?"  
"That wasn't half bad," I agreed with a respectful nod of my head, "But you haven't seen my master riposte yet."

She shook that tied back, naturally auburn hair like a pegasus might have tossed its mane about. Most girls would have dreamed to have such richly coloured hair, and many would resort to getting it dyed to that colour. Artemis was the only person I'd ever met who could honestly say that hers was genuine. "Humour me."  
I closed my eyes and shut out everything around me, focusing my entire imagination on the thought of the water shooting out of the river and grabbing the goddess who stood on the banks. Sure enough, bubbles started to rise in the liquid at my command. It was good to know that I could still use my greatest ally for things other than giving me a warm shower. Too late she realised what I was doing, furious that she'd managed to ignore Thalia's most important piece of advice. The water took hold of her ankles and she could do nothing to stop its flow and is dragged her into the river. I re-influenced the water, now forming it into a sphere – a hamster ball of water – and letting it contain her on the surface. It was a makeshift prison, and I was the guy with the keys.

Sitting myself down on the bank, my feet dipping relaxedly into the water, I enjoyed the absolutely livid look which dominated the goddess' face. Capture the flag could wait – I had a goddess to taunt.

**Okay, so firstly I'd like to apologise for getting this out so late after promising that I'd be able to get it out soon after chapter 10. I wasn't lying when I said that I'd already done a considerable amount of this chapter when the last one was posted, but I suffered from the rare case of getting writer's block half way through the chapter. I wrote about a billion alternative options for what I'm publishing, but this was the one I finally decided to use. Either way, thanks a bunch for all of you great guys who reviewed. I'm really sorry to those of you who may have done so to get another chapter out quickly.**

**Think we can break the 200 review milestone with this chapter? Whether we can or not, I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**Charlie.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Thanks to you guys who reviewed, just reached 200 that miraculous milestone! Seriously, there are balloons filling up my room right now. Never in wildest dreams could I have imagined that I'd get 30,000+ views to my story, reviews, follows and favourites in the hundreds. Can't thank you all enough.**

**Artemis' POV**

The guy was powerful near water, I was willing to admit that. I supposed that it was hard to deny that fact when standing helpless in an unbreakable bubble of water as he sat on the shore, relaxedly dipping his feet into the river. I'd tried all of the tricks to get out but the walls couldn't be broken, the sphere could not be moved unless by him and the water was somehow blocking my own powers, meaning that I couldn't even teleport out of there. As I said, I had no idea how he was doing it; sometimes you just had to sit back and applaud your opponent's ability. This was definitely NOT one of those moments. There was no way that I was going to admit defeat to him, especially when he was having such a good time deploying his wide variety of shudder-worthy, feeble water and wish related puns.

"What does it _eel _like in there?" He chortled mischievously, sending ripples through the water as he kicked with his feet. It seemed as if he'd given up on capture the flag for the express purpose of annoying me.

I cringed at the obvious, perhaps even intentionally weak joke. "Aren't you supposed to be playing a competitive game of capture the flag right now?"

"I'm fine right here, actually." He put on a thinking face as if weighing up the options. "Wouldn't be surprised if your girls have already won."

I nodded proudly, "They're good, aren't they?"

As if on cue, there came a fierce roar from another part of the forest, swiftly followed by the sound of a group of ear-piercing screams. Judging by the femininity of the bellow, I guessed that Thalia had decided that to introduce her good friend 'Aegis' to the unfortunate campers. Judging by the vaguely amused expression on Perseus' face, I supposed that he'd come to that conclusion as well.

"Looks like Thalia has fought off your attack." I smirked at the son of Poseidon despite my position. "You campers are no match for my hunters even without me."

The demigod shrugged his shoulders, "Well, that could be true. On on the other hand, we both know that Thalia has a bit of a tendency to go overboard with the whole fighting business."

I noticed that the water layer of my bubble was getting thinner and less powerful; Perseus obviously wasn't going to have the energy to keep my prison up indefinitely. If I could just keep him talking...

"What do you mean?" I inquired politely, inwardly wondering if he actually cared who won this game of capture the flag.

He explained, "I bet that Thalia won't be able to resist the prospect of chasing and humiliating the poor guys who she's just terrified to death. Now correct me if I'm wrong-"

I butted in, "Oh I will certainly do that."

"Thank you," He glared at me before continuing, "... but that will leave your flag relatively vulnerable to the other two groups of fighters that we have closing in from the other sides."

Inwardly, my body was just starting to call for panic stations. I kept on talking, "Then I assume that you are focusing mainly on attack? Your flag must be quite sparsely guarded."

"Tough talk for the person who's trapped in a giant bubble." He grinned annoyingly, knowing that he had the upper hand in this battle of mind games. "I reckon that you underestimate the efficiency of the tonnes of traps that we have around the place; your girls won't be so dangerous when they've been blown fifty feet into the air. The treetop archers should be handy as well. _Experts _in camouflage and shooting, easily as good as your hunters. Any invaders will be peppered repeatedly, and they won't even know where the arrows are coming from. And obviously they'd have to get past this river, a difficult task considering that I'm obviously putting my _full _attention into guarding it."

From the other side of the river, there came a loud rustling noise from a bush followed by the recognisable quick thumps against the ground of somebody running. It was my turn to smirk at Perseus, "I reckon that you underestimate the power of an eavesdropping hunter."

His expression moulded into one of fury as he jumped from his sitting position on the river bank and made to charge after my clever hunter. He may have not particularly cared about the outcome of the game, but I guessed that he didn't want to be the person responsible for losing. His concentration on my watery prison evaporated, causing its walls to collapse around me and I plummeted down into the river with a splash.

"Sorry!" He shouted back as he ran after the girl. It seemed that he had enough time for one more cringe-worthy pun, "I didn't do that on _porpoise_."

I rolled my eyes, swimming from the freezing cold water of the river in Winter. Heaving myself onto the bank, my teeth chattered uncontrollably and I shuddered at the sudden intensity of the cold. My clothes, my hair, my skin; all were soaked

"I've been through worse," I reminded myself strictly. Percy had told me everything about the layout of their defence; getting to the flag was going to be like taking sweets from a baby. So, doing my best to ignore the cold I sneaked into the enemy side of the forest, weaving my way through the trees silently. Rolling into cover behind a rose bush, I focused my vision on a point about one hundred metres away. As Goddess of the Moon, I had a good control over the darkness which meant that not only could I see clearly in pitch black, I could also use the dark to shroud me. At the point where I was focusing my vision, I could see an orange flag and two figures standing next to each other, obviously conversing about something. I seriously doubted that they were focusing on the task at hand; this was going to be _too _easy. Well, at least once I'd sorted out the treetop archers.

**Percy's POV**

The hunters were crafty little ones, that was for sure, and the one that I was chasing was certainly no exception. Her legs were short but somehow she was still really quick, she'd never stepped foot in this forest before and yet she seemed to know it better than me, and she seemed to naturally blend in with her surroundings. Being beaten in a race by a twelve year old was hardly a self-esteem booster.

"Will you stop running?" I shouted frustratedly through the trees. Leg speed had never been my strongest asset, although generally I'd been half-decent, and five years away with no cause for running had definitely not improved my proficiency.

The hunter still wasn't ready to play ball. "Get away from me, _boy._"

I felt a sharp pain in my stomach from where I'd been hit with the bullet a few days ago; Ouranus may have healed it but that didn't mean that it had never happened. The pain would probably be something that I'd have to deal with for the rest of my life.

I couldn't go on, the hurting too substantial. "Gods," I muttered, leaning over to clutch my stomach.

The girl turned back to look, maybe checking if I was okay; maybe she did still have some compassion for people of my gender. Not looking where she was going as her head was turned back to watch me, I noticed that if she continued on the same course then she would run into a large root which jutted up dangerously from the ground.

I summoned the breath to form words, "Watch out!"

The hunter turned to look but it was too late. Before she could stop, her ankle collided with the thick root and she was catapulted over to plant her face on the floor. Painfully, I limped over to where she was lying. Her face and bare arms covered in mud, she clutched her ankle with an iron grip, tightly enough that her knuckles were white as bone. The grimace on her face showed that she would be screaming or at least groaning if she hadn't been too proud to do so in front of a male.

"You okay?" I found myself asking. It was quite rare that somebody stopped to help an enemy in a game of capture the flag; the game was competitive with little room for compassion.

She tried to shove me away. "Go away, boy. I have no need for help from you."

I laughed heartily as I stood my ground, raising my eyebrows sceptically. "Naah, I reckon that you've busted your ankle. It's at least a sprain, maybe even a breakage and somehow I can't see that it will be easy for you to get medical help when you can't even walk."

She didn't reply, probably mulling over her options. On the one hand, she knew that I was speaking the truth and that she'd never get out of the forest without some kind of assistance. However, I was a boy and lying around in the mud waiting for help from a female was probably preferable than employing my help for her.

I rolled my eyes, still smiling at the impressive stubbornness that Artemis managed to drill into her hunters. "Come on, there's no shame in being helped by a guy every once in a while. Would it make you feel better if you knew that I'm the friend of both your leader and her lieutenant?"

"Are you the boy who saved Thalia's life?" She asked incredulously, comprehension visibly dawning on her.

I shuffled around in my shoes awkwardly; that was something that I didn't want to think about. "I'd rather not talk about that, if you don't mind, but yes, it was me."

After a few moments more of thinking, she seemed to decide that I was a semi-acceptable creature.

"So do you want my help or not?" I checked, fairly sure by this point that the answer was going to be yes. A bit of name dropping always came in handy – the number of times that I'd just thrown in a casual 'oh, did I mention that my dad's the ancient god of the sea?' was pretty substantial by that point. As I'd thought, she shyly nodded her head and I moved to lift her up. She was pretty light; even as low on energy as I was it wasn't difficult to carry her.

"You're Percy Jackson or something, right?" She checked once in my grip, "Thalia's talked about you a little bit."

I nodded my confirmation. "That's right. What about you, would you happen to have a name?"

"Briony. It's horrible, isn't it? Apparently my mother, who's Athena by the way, chose it."

A daughter of Athena, ey? Observing her closer, she did actually bear some resemblance to Annabeth. They shared the same grey, wise and observing eyes, the ever concentrating facial expressions and the general air of great knowledge. Unlike my old friend, Briony had rather short, brown and almost masculine hair, presumably cut for the express purpose of efficiency.

"My ex-girlfriend is a daughter of Athena," I blurted out, immediately wondering why I'd said it.

Briony nodded awkwardly. "Annabeth something? Thalia talks about her as well."

"That's her." I confirmed. Why on earth was I talking to this hunter, a twelve year old stranger, about my love life? Life probably couldn't have got any weirder.

The hunter wriggled around in my arms uncomfortably. "You two not together any more? Thalia seemed to think that you were inseparable."

Okay, scratch what I said earlier. The conversation had just reached unexplored territories of weirdness, new galaxies even. Yet somehow, I found myself telling her about everything that had happened, how everything had changed over the course of the last five years. She was a good listener.

**Jason's POV**

I'd just won us the game of capture the flag, ending probably the most embarrassing streak in demigod history. Losing fifty six matches on the trot was definitely not something to be proud of. Once Thalia had gone chasing after Annabeth's team of five, I'd known that their flag was ours as both my group and Clarisse's took the opportunity to move in for the kill. After the number of fights against giants, demigods, monsters, titans and even gods that I'd been in, taking out a few surprised and outnumbered hunters hadn't been the hardest task of my life. All that it took after that was a long sprint to the river, obviously being careful to avoid my sister, and the hopes that our defence team had managed to stop our own flag from being taken. As I'd been running, the hopes of this had been fairly slim seeing as I hadn't seen Artemis defending their flag. However good I thought that our defence set up was, they weren't made to withstand a competitive goddess. The trees and vegetation that I'd come to love had been a blur beside me as my legs carried me at a pace that a cheetah would have been jealous of. My desperation to win had pumped me through of coursing, powerful adrenaline; this game of capture the flag hadn't only been a contest between two rival teams, it had also been a sibling contest. Boasting to Thalia about our victory was going to be glorious. As I crossed the river, slightly concerned that Percy was nowhere to be seen, a horn loud enough to cover the entire forest sounded and my worries dissipated. It was the victory horn. We'd won.

The campers around me literally jumped with joy, some of them having been around long enough that they had suffered from various defeats at the hands of the hunters.

A grin covered my face from ear-to-ear. "Well done, guys! We did it!"

Looking like a parade of high fiving, screaming, celebrating representatives for a major lunatic asylum, we slowly partied out of the forest as everybody savoured the joy of triumph. Piper just about made my efforts even more worth it by coming to kiss me, much to the apparent distaste of the rest of the team, but I figured that we deserved it.

We reached the Big House at the same time as the hunters, who judging by their sour expressions and hushed tones, were already formulating excuses. My sister looked absolutely livid, her face red with shame and anger; she never had been a particularly good loser. Knowing that the game had been theirs to win probably didn't help her mood.

Chiron cleared his throat, a proud smile spreading across his face despite his best efforts to stay an unprejudiced judge. "A good game, teams, but unfortunately there could only be one winning side. Congratulations to the Camp Half-Blood Team!"

The contrast of our roars of approval and the hunters' weak smattering of applause was pretty comical. A new round of fist pumps circulated, although I was pretty sure that this time it was for the express and only purpose of annoying the hunters.

Thalia led the dejected hunters away, her body seemingly crackling slightly in a way that we children of Jupiter/Zeus do when we are annoyed. "Where on earth's Artemis, anyway?"

Before I could wonder the same, Piper came and grabbed my hand again. A whispered proposal to 'find somewhere a bit quieter' was all I needed to retire for the night. After congratulating the rest of the team one last time, I let her lead us away for whatever it was that she had planned.

**Artemis' POV**

When I finally got the guts to leave the forest and face up to the reality that we'd managed to lose, fortunately everybody else had found themselves had vacated the area around the Big House. I guessed that the campers had brought their victory celebrations elsewhere and my hunters had probably gone off to sulk. Thalia in particular, I knew, would be furious at the loss. Sitting down on the fence near the light blue building's door, I wondered whether the loss had been my fault; my task had been to take the enemy flag, yet I'd failed. I had been supposed to clear the way of any enemy guards, but I hadn't managed to do it on time. What made everything even worse was that I'd been so close to taking their flag; right on the cusp of stopping them from winning after breaking through their defences. Just as I'd been about to grab their flag, the annoying twin guards defeated before me, the horn had sounded and all of my hard work had been for nothing; I'd been too slow.

The sound of laughter came from the entrance to the forest and I slid from the fence, my first reaction being to hide myself. I didn't particularly wanted to be seen in such a lonely state by two jeering campers, basking in the joy of their undeserved victory.

A shot of anger coursed through me as I realised who the two people were. "Briony? What on earth are you doing in a the arms of a male?"

The raven-haired demigod smiled infectiously; whether he was laughing at my reaction or the fact that his team had won the game, I didn't know. "Good evening to you too, Lady Artemis."

"I'll deal with _you _later." I pointed an accusing finger at the son of Poseidon before turning to my hunter. "Briony, you need to explain yourself _now._"

A regretful look spread across her face, as if for the first time realising that she had done wrong. "I am sorry, my lady. My ankle got sprained in the game and I let Percy carry me away to get medical help, I thought that it would be okay seeing as you two are friends and all."

It was my turn to feel regretful, mentally rebuking myself for not realising that she could have had some kind of injury. "Right." I replied gruffly, unwilling to admit my mistake. "Go and get Chiron to sort it out, then. And be more cautious next time, we don't have room for carelessness in the hunters."

Perseus' smile was replaced with an expression of bewilderment at how the situation had developed, looking at me almost distastefully. I unwillingly felt myself wilt a little under his glare, but held my ground stubbornly. There was silence as Briony clambered ungracefully from his arms, wincing terribly as she limped up the steps and into the Big House, where we could see the silhouette of the centaur playing cards in the front room.

Waiting until the hunter had closed the door behind her, Perseus glared at me again. "What on earth was that, Artemis?"

Mercifully ignoring his disrespectful use of my first name, I replied, "My hunters have to be independent. She must learn from her mistakes."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Artemis!" The twenty-two year old replied with a slow and sad shake of his head. "It was my fault, anyhow. I made her accept my help."

I crossed my arms, raising my eyebrows. "Yes, by telling her that we were friends, I gather?"

"Guilty as charged," His lips formed a smile, but it never reached his green eyes. "Is there something wrong with that now?"

"Well it wasn't exactly truthful, was it?" I asked, confused at his reaction.

Waiting for a moment as if checking that he'd heard me correctly, a look of distasteful amazement spread across his face and a short, humourless bark of laughter escaped from his mouth. His head continued to slowly shake, amazed that somebody could be so unintentionally insulting. I supposed that what I'd said could have been classed as a little insensitive.

I held up my hand apologetically. "Okay, that didn't come out as I'd intended-"

"Don't even bother trying to explain yourself, Artemis." He sighed sadly. "If that's what you think, then there's nothing that I can do to change that. I just misjudged our relationship."

Not knowing exactly how to reply to that, I simply continued. "Look, Perseus. I want you to stay away from my hunters, we are supposed to stay away from you males."

He let out another short laugh. "That was your cue to apologise, not continue insulting me!"

I ignored him. "Just stay away from my girls, Perseus. I don't want any of them deciding that they are attracted to you, or something, and then leaving the hunt."

"I think that you overestimate my skills with girls, Artemis." The demigod replied, his tone rather sour. "I haven't had a lot of success in that department."

"Whatever." I told him flatly. "Just remember what I said. Stay away."

With a suddenly alarming ferocity, he threw his sword to the floor furiously. His eyes blazed with uncontrolled anger, like a the power of a tsunami, and his face was tomato red.

"You are intolerable, you know that?" He bellowed scarily. "How is it that one moment I can be having a really good time with you, making jokes and kidding around, and the next you're telling me that I can't be trusted to be in the general vicinity of your hunters? Is it because you lost the stupid game? Are you really _that _competitive? You're reminding me of everything that I utterly despise in the rest of the other Olympians: anger, mistrust, stubbornness. Gods, I thought that you were the only bearable one of all of them. And how could you be so hideously insensitive? You know full well that I've been struggling to integrate with the rest of the camp, you're just about the only person I've told, but at least I thought that I had one friend in you."

I could do nothing but stand there as the torrent of insults and abuse was thrown at me. Maybe I knew that it was true, or maybe I just didn't know where to start, but no reply escaped from my lips. This alone was alarming; normally I was good at creating improvised retorts. He looked at me expectantly, looking so enraged that I almost expected steam to emerge from his ears. I realised too late that some kind of apology might have been what he was waiting for, and before I could even start to formulate the words he had stormed off with a disgustful groan.

"Boys." I tutted frustratedly, before going to round up my girls.

**There we go, finally got it finished. Don't know whether a few people will be annoyed at the fact that Percy and Artemis are arguing ****_again, _****but I think that it should be like that if I'm going to keep their relationship believable. It is supposed to be the classic kind of opposites attract pairing, so please understand that it is going to take a long time and there are realistically going to be some spats along the way. I also hope that people don't get annoyed that Artemis was such an obvious bitch at the end; she's supposed to be really competitive, obviously ridiculously strict about her nomale policy and also, I've always felt her to be almost autistic in terms of social skills apart from with her hunters. She doesn't seem to have the best comprehension of what's tactful and what's not. That's how I think of her, anyway. **

**Thanks for reading, even bigger thanks to those of you who write a review and I'll see you next time.**

**Charlie.**

**PS - For now, I've stopped replying to your reviews by leaving one of my own because I doubted that many people were noticing that I'd done so, but if you do want a reply then just tell me in your review and I'll either PM you or leave a review myself. Thanks!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Thanks to the reviewers last time! Hopefully this will be an eventful chapter, but I don't quite know yet. Enjoy!**

**Thalia's POV**

There was something wrong with my lady, and something told me that it wasn't the fact that we'd lost the game of capture the flag. On the rare occasions in the past when we had managed to fail in our objective, she'd always reacted with a vengeance-seeking attitude, an irrepressible anger which had pushed us to winning the next time we'd had the chance. This was different.

As I'd been talking to her about how we'd managed to lose, she'd just sat back and let me talk. Her composure was slumped, her features mellow and her general attitude withdrawn; quite the opposite from her usual all guns blazing mode.

The general rule with Lady Artemis was to not confront her about it; she was probably just pondering over some Olympian issue. I continued to 'talk tactics'. "So that we know for next time, what was it that stopped you from getting to the enemy flag?"

My lady looked up at me, a sudden half smile dancing on her lips. "I got into some _deep water._"

There seemed to be some kind of implication behind her words, a subtle double meaning of some kind. I had no idea what she meant and could only look at her blankly as the smile quickly vanished from her face. She really was in an odd mood and I really couldn't put my finger on what was causing it.

"My Lady," I said cautiously and slowly, "Are you okay? You don't seem quite yourself."

Her hand continued to fiddle with a loose strand of hair and she did not answer, leading me to wonder whether she had completely missed the question in her absent-minded state.

About to repeat the question, Artemis saved me the trouble by finally answering. "Am I insensitive?"

Okay, that really wasn't what I'd expected to come out from her mouth. "Ummm, what?"

She frowned at herself. "Oh, it doesn't matter. Forget that I said anything."

The goddess of the hunt stood up and walked over to the entrance flap of the tent, her back facing me as she gazed out into the stars that she so loved. Somehow I got the feeling that she was only doing so to avoid my stare; once she'd accidentally let slip that she was troubled then she'd do anything to steer the subject away from that topic. I guessed that talking about such things made her feel vulnerable or exposed; Artemis had a lot of great assets but she definitely wasn't great at opening her heart.

Nevertheless, I tried to get her to talk. "You've been arguing with someone, haven't you?"

"Don't you assume such a thing, lieutenant." She snapped hostilely, not turning to face me as she spoke. "Dismissed."

Part of me wanted to just obey and avoid any trouble, but at the same time I wanted to help my leader and friend. If she was having problems, it was my duty to help and despite her unfriendliness,I reckoned that I'd get away with pushing her a little further. After spending so much time with one another it was only natural that we had come to know where we stood with each other. "My lady, I only wish to help."

Her head turned and her silvery eyes met mine, one second blazing with an untempered fury but the next as compassionate as they normally were with me. "I know, Thalia, I know, but I will sort this one out myself. I will talk to him."

"'Him'." I noticed quickly. "There are only two males who I know of that you eve r talk to: your brother and Percy. As annoying as Apollo may be, I have never known him to have this effect on you. So I'm guessing that you've been arguing with Percy, and he called you insensitive?"

She glared at me, basically confirming that I was right. Yes... I mean no... didn't I dismiss you already?"

"My lady," I warned gently, putting my hand on her shoulder. "Percy is my friend and I have a right to know what happened."

She sighed and returned to her chair inside the tent, sitting down and placing her head despairingly into her hands and she ran her nimble fingers through that auburn, silky hair. "He was flirting with one of the hunters, Briony, and I told him to back off. It make me feel guilty because of everything that he's been through, but I had to stop him and we kind of argued about it. A lot."

I was pretty sure that the air above my head got hotter as steam flew from my ears and my face turned from its regular gothic white to an enraged scarlet; needless to say, I was pretty protective about the girls. If Percy really had tried to flirt with one of _my _hunters, then I would kill him with my bare, dangerous hands. Pronto.

**Percy's POV**

I shed bits of the rusty, old armour that I'd been wearing like a cat moults its fur in time for the warm season, throwing the heavy and uncomfortable metal down into the mud. My good mood had not taken long to dissipate, replaced by a horrible bitterness from the betrayal of the one who I'd assumed to be my friend. Then it had turned out that she was just like all of the others: only nice to me when it suited her. Annabeth had been the same, very friendly when I'd decided to follow her on the suicide mission into Tartarus, not so nice once I needed the favour returned. Artemis' betrayal, of course, did bring my friend count down to a pretty embarrassing one (Thalia), and I figured that it was time for me to try and regain the friendship of the people who I'd known well before my exile. I knew that I'd been pretty unpleasant to Jason since returning to camp, I'd barely even glanced at Piper and there seemed to have been an unspoken agreement between me and Annabeth that we should avoid each other. With the intention of apologising to Jason and clearing the bad blood between us, I made my way to cabin number one.

Zeus' cabin was a white marble box, with heavy, imposing, traditional Greek style columns at the front. The building was by far he biggest and bulkiest of all the cabins, which I supposed was supposed to be representative of the most almighty Olympian's power. To me, it more just a mark of his crippling arrogance. It had polished bronze doors that shimmered naturally like a hologram, and decorative lightning bolts streaking brightly down their fronts.

I breathed in deeply, hesitated for a moment, and then finally pushed the door open to make some long overdue amends. As the case had often been for the last few years of my life, it didn't go according to plan. Jason had Piper pressed up against the statue, their lips locked in a fierce kiss. The daughter of Aphrodite's skirt was hitched right up her leg as Jason thrust against her, his trousers open at the front. I was no expert on the subject, but still I knew exactly what they were doing. Not allowing a surprised exclamation to escape my mouth, I tried to back out of the door again before they could notice that I'd ever been there. It was a good thing that they were so engrossed in what they were, uh, _doing _that neither of them had heard the creak of the door being opened or my footsteps against the marble floor.

Unable to contain myself any longer, I simply fled from the sight well aware of the fact that they would probably hear the louder sound of my movement. Seriously, seeing two people who I knew so well going at it like rabbits was more disturbing than you could ever imagine. And against the statue of Zeus? Gods, I'd never guessed that they could be so... _dirty. _As I sprinted the twenty metres to my own cabin, I desperately tried to remove the memory from my mind. Even though they were both adults and very much in love, the very notion of them _doing it _had never occurred to me. Slamming the door behind me urgently, I peeked through the window towards cabin number one. Jason stood outside of the grand building, looking around the area for the person who'd seen him and his girlfriend in, uh, _action. _I shuddered with a disgusted grimace; that would certainly teach me never to walk into a cabin without knocking again.

The next morning, I skipped breakfast and made straight for my calm sanctuary which was the beach. The last thing that I wanted was to run into Jason and/or Piper and accidentally betray the fact that the person who'd caught them had been me; definitely that was something that I was desperate to avoid. Either way, the seafront was a much nicer and friendlier environment for a son of Poseidon like me to go to. Although it wasn't something that I would have liked to admit, I desperately wanted Artemis to appear so that we could reconcile after last night's argument. It would have been a lie to say that I was angry enough with the goddess to not want to see her, and although the fact that she had basically spat on our friendship had made me pretty furious, what I really wanted was for that to be put behind us. I wanted _her _to apologise for once, and thereby prove that she did value the enjoyment that we had obviously shared over the nights before yesterday's. It probably showed just how desperate I was to have someone to get along with.

Taking a seat, I waited for her to appear, but it didn't take Athena to realise that this was probably going to end in vain.

**Ouranos' POV**

I sensed that now was my time to strike. The boy had spent all day waiting and hoping for Artemis to come back, but of course being the selfish Olympian she was, of course the boy's hopes had been crushed. As the day had progressed he had become more and more angry with the one Olympian who he felt a bond with, and I knew now that his hatred for that exclusive and arrogant group of gods would be enough that his mind would be ready for my control. Of course, I had not just brought the son of Poseidon back to the land of the living out of the goodness of my heart, or because I particularly liked him, but because I knew that he would be the perfect pawn to split up and destroy my children, and with them the rest of the Olympian order. Perseus, however, was a strong minded one. His mind had resisted my attempted entry, his instincts forcing his body to naturally reject my influence because of the loyalty he felt to just one of the Olympians: Artemis. But now, feeling neglected by his father, persecuted by most of them and betrayed by the goddess of the hunt. She had given me the opportunity to take over Percy's mind, and the rest of the world would soon follow. It was as he slept that night when I channelled myself into him; by morning he had left camp. The wheels were in motion, the game afoot.

**Yeah, this was really short. To be perfectly honest, I'm running kind of low on ideas and I decided that if I didn't end here then it could take absolutely yonks for this chapter to be finished. So yeah, sorry about that. Either way, if any of you have any ideas for where this story can go next then I'd love to hear them. My brain is absolutely dry at the moment, and motivation is a litttttttttle bit short. **

**Charlie.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**I was really happy with the number of suggestions that came in, it really showed me that people really do care about the direction that this story will take. It's probably a result of you guys that I managed to get this chapter up at all, so you can all give yourselves some well deserved pats on the back. **

**Ouranos' POV**

True to my word, I intended to guide young Jackson away from the camp that morning, but there was one more thing that I decided could be done before his departure. Although I had even greater plans for the next few days, there was another thing that could crush his will even further: what if his last true friend decided that they were angry with him as well? I licked my lips deliciously, noticing that the girl who I needed was on her way to the camp at that very moment. Everything was going according to plan.

**Thalia's POV**

It would be an understatement to say that I was disappointed with Percy. I had always seen him as the most honourable of all men, but the fact that Artemis had told me that he had intentionally flirted with one of my hunters, Briony, directly disputed that firm belief. In fact, part of me could still hardly believe that it was true. The idea of Percy flirting with any girl, let alone one of the hunters, just could not formulate in my mind; it simply wasn't comprehensible. But, Artemis was my leader and I _had _to trust her on this one, otherwise the whole system which I lived my life on would have fallen apart. The word of Artemis was law, even when insulting my friend. To be fair, it did appear to make sense that this could have been the cause of her odd behaviour the night before because I couldn't see many other ways that the two of them could have fallen out so suddenly. So, after convincing myself that Percy was guilty of the charge against him, I made my way to the camp with the express purpose of putting him right. Nobody flirted with my hunters, not even my best friend.

I got a few odd looks in my direction as I walked through the morning camp scene, nobody used to having unscheduled visits from hunters, and more than a few campers thought that it would be funny to boast loudly about their victory in capture the flag the night before. Of course, had I cared too much about their tiresome and pathetic self appraisal, I would have been quick to remind them of the outcomes of the fifty six matches beforehand. The thought of putting some of them in their place put a smirk to my face.

Arriving at cabin number three, just about fifteen-twenty metres separating me from the building where I'd used to sleep, I politely knocked on the door. I was surprised upon hearing commotion inside the cabin, and soon after the voice of my friend telling me to enter. If there was one thing that I was sure about Percy, it was that he still had the classic teenage aversion to mornings. Seeing him up and about before eleven, apart from when he was in the middle of a quest, had come to be seen as a kind of rare phenomenon, so him being even awake enough to tell me that I could enter was certainly a surprise. Shrugging my shoulders, I pushed the door open gently and entered the cabin of the sea god.

He looked at me, a mild caution seeming to prevent the usual smile from breaking over his face. I guessed that he knew why I was here, and his reaction perhaps proved his guilt.

"Oh, hiya Thals." He said with a fake joviality. "Didn't expect to see you this morning."

I willed my eyes to darken in the way that they normally did in the heat of battle. My plan was to intimidate my friend into promising that he would never, ever even think about approaching one of my hunters again. "Why did you do it, Percy?"

Judging my the lack of surprise on his features, I guessed that my assumption had been correct; he knew that I was there to talk to him about what had happened with Artemis the night before. "I don't know what _she_ has said that I've done, Thals, but I can almost guarantee that it is not true."

"Don't insult Lady Artemis in front of me, Jackson." My voice was authoritative and cold in a way that I imagined a policeman's would be like when talking to a criminal. "I have every reason to believe that you are as guilty as she says."

"Jackson?" He spat incredulously. "Why are you calling me that suddenly? Seriously, what am I supposed to have done?"

Although still sure that he knew exactly what I was talking about, I decided to play ball. "You _flirted _with one of my girls, Jackson, and you know it."

"Did _she _tell you this?" His face moulded into an expression of disgust at the thought of the leader of the hunt.

"I assume that you are talking about Lady Artemis, and yes. She did." I replied, firmly standing my ground.

In his eyes I saw the spark of a madness that had never been cured, a blaze which only lit when he was at his angriest. Unfortunately, that seemed to be quite often at that time. For the first time, I wondered whether I was doing the right thing in telling him off; whether he was guilty at all. Disgustedly, he barged past me and stepped out into the open. I followed, grabbing his shoulder and trying to pull him back inside. The last thing we needed was an audience.

"Look at yourself for one moment, Thalia." The demigod shouted at me, animosity dominating his tone. "Why would you believe her lies? When have I _ever _come even close to flirting with one of your hunters? Gods, I thought that at least I could rely on you to believe me."

A crowd had begun to gather, people interestedly looking on at the fight between me and him, two children of the powerful big three. Our conflicts were always the most interesting to watch; people were probably passing bets around at the outcome already. "Then just tell me what happened, Percy." I pleaded with him, still trying to drag him back out of sight.

He threw my hand off his shoulder. "Just ask Briony. She'll confirm everything that I've said."

Without another look in my direction, he started to sprint away as quickly as he could, as if there was no place where he would less rather be. Glaring daggers at the onlookers, I tried to follow him.

He looked back at me one last time, speaking emotionally. "I am sick and tired of being betrayed by everyone I hold most dear."

Before I had the opportunity to speak, the air around Percy suddenly started to shimmer and he started to disappear, he himself looking as surprised as everybody around him. Slowly, his body began to fade like a hologram dying out and it wasn't long before he was totally gone, the ground where he'd been standing lying untouched as if nothing had happened.

A few confused murmurs sounded from the stunned crowd. "What just happened?" Where's he gone?" "Has Percy Jackson just been disintegrated?"

Unfortunately, I didn't know the answer to a single one of the three questions. It didn't look as though he had been harmed, more like a teleportation, but who was I to make assumptions? I'd never seen anything like it; demigods could not teleport like the gods could. Wherever he was, I just hoped that he was okay.

**Ouranos' POV**

Witnessing the morning's events, I knew that the situation could not have gone better if I'd organised it myself; it was almost as if Artemis and her hunters were trying to give me dominion over the young and powerful demigod's mind. I could see that he had never, ever felt so alone in his entire life, and therefore his mind was totally ready for my control. I did not need to take control over Perseus' entire body, all I needed to do was to have the ability to place ideas and objectives in his mind. That was exactly how my plan was so ingenious: to the onlooker, Perseus would act no differently to how he had ever done, but it would be me telling him exactly what to do. There was just one more thing that I needed, a grand finale, a beautiful crescendo which would leave him completely dedicated to finding the Olympians, my arrogant descendants, and killing them all. Wiping them from the face of the planet. But that would take place another day. Transporting the demigod from Camp Half-Blood through air travel, I was the true Lord of the Sky after all, I lay him to sleep and rest my palace in the sky. When he awoke, he would be ready to receive my blessing, the powers that he would need to take down the Olympians. The final part of my plan would go ahead, and Olympus would be as good as mine.

**Artemis' POV**

"What do you mean, he just vanished?" I asked her doubtfully, obviously taking her story with more than a pinch of salt. Immediately I felt guilty; our relationship was based on trust, and she certainly had no reason to lie.

Thalia threw her hands up despairingly. "I don't know how else I can describe it, he just vanished in front of our eyes. The air around him shimmered a little bit and he definitely looked confused – I don't think that he vanished himself. But you can ask anyone there, they'll all confirm exactly what I've said."

I nodded, showing my trust in her words. "Okay, so we need to work out who or what teleported him. This is very concerning indeed."

"Ares?" Thalia suggested, mirroring my own suspicions.

"He certainly has a motive," I agreed, rubbing my chin wisely, "But he's still on the run, isn't he? Do you think that he'd take such a risk?"

My lieutenant put her face in her hands worriedly, showing me that she was a lot more concerned than she was letting on. Although I knew that the two had been arguing before he had vanished, still she had not decided to indulge me as to what their spat was about. However, if she'd gone and blamed him for what I guessed that she had, then there was no doubt that she would be partially blaming herself for making him angry in the first place. I felt that guilt too, of course. This argument was my fault, and mine alone.

"I just don't know who else it could have been!" She said sadly, the frustration of not being able to help a friend obviously affecting her greatly. A pang of sorrow ran through me; I knew that this entire situation could have been avoided if I hadn't blown up at him the night before. To be fair, though, he should not have been acting so intimately with one of my hunters.

Perhaps not wanting to show any more emotion in front of me, Thalia quickly excused herself from my command tent, mumbling something about needing to think. Well, that made two of us. I knew that the answer to this riddle was lying in the back of my mind somewhere, there had been something that Perseus had told me a few nights ago and I was sure that if that memory could be reappear then I would finally understand. Cursing my slowness, I just hoped that I could work it out before it was too late.

**Percy's POV**

Appearing on a familiar Manhattan street, the last thing that I remembered was inexplicably vanishing from where I'd been standing at Camp Half-Blood, but I knew that something must have happened since then. I could remember that that had occurred in the morning, yet now night was upon me. Street lights were gleaming brightly, reflecting light from the numerous puddles which were scattered across the quiet roads, eerily deserted. I quickly put the doubts behind me, something clicking in me which forced me to not care as to where I'd spent the day. What mattered was what was to come.

Looking around more carefully, I recognised the street as one barely a block away from where I had used to live with my mum. It had been my home for many years, and a horrible pang of guilt coursed through me as I realised that I had not gone to visit my dear mother even once since my return. She must have been worried sick, not having seen me for half a decade. I was the worst son ever. At least, I reassured myself, she would've had Paul for company. My brain telling me that this would be a good point to go and make things right, I found my feet carrying me down the road towards the Jackson residence. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Walking through the streets of my childhood gave me a welcome chance to reminisce, and I realised quite how much I had missed the great city in my five years of isolation. The Olympians had caused caused that, I reminded myself mentally. The sports shop where I used to browse for skateboards, the corner shop that I'd used to stock up on sweets, the clothes shops which I'd been forced into by my mother. For all of those years I'd taken them for granted, even complained about them (in the case of the clothes shops), but only now did I realise how lucky I had been to have them, and how harsh it had been of the Olympians to take them away from me.

I reached the tall apartment block which housed hundreds of relatively poor families like my own, offering small but functional apartments for a cheap price. There had been nothing wrong with the building at all, and it had had everything that we had needed to live, yet it had not been furnished with very much at all above the things that were required. A stark comparison, I noted, to the blatant and proud lavishness of the Olympian home. Opening the door with a deep breath, I walked to the lift and pressed for the third floor. As it whirred into motion, groaning in protest at the effort of working, I wondered and rehearsed what I would say when I saw my mum again. An apology, of course, would be necessary, and an explanation of what had been happening over the last years that I hadn't been able to see her.

"Hi mum!" I said quietly to myself, checking how it sounded. No, I decided. Just going in and greeting her wouldn't do the situation justice, but how else was I to say hello? I could hardly just walk in and say 'sorry about the whole going missing thing.'. Too soon, the lift ride was over and I was left with no plan of action. Probably wishing for the first time ever that our flat was on the top floor, I decided that I would just have to wing it. It had always worked wonders for me in the past.

My footsteps echoed more than I had remembered them doing ever before as I walked down the empty hallway, internally remarking that I still hadn't seen a single soul since finding myself in the city. I found myself at the familiar flat number twenty-three, and with a deep breath I rapped loudly on the door. Why I was so nervous, I had no idea; she was my mum, after all! Nobody came to answer the door, nor did I hear any movement from inside the apartment. Knocking once more to check, I guessed that they were probably out and made to leave the building.

No, something in my head told me, use the spare key! Not questioning why my mind was suddenly talking to me, I figured that it wasn't unreasonable to guess that my mum hadn't changed the location of where she had always hidden the spare key. Looking around me as if in some kind of covert operation, I lifted up the loose floorboard which had been at the entrance to our flat for as long as I could remember. As soon as we'd found out about it, we'd both agreed that it would be a safe place to put a key for that awkward situation when you forgot to bring one out with you. Sure enough, the simple key of bronze and silver keys sat where it always had done, shining dimly as it reflected the sparse light from the ceiling of the hallway. Clicking both of the locks, I pushed the door open tentatively.

"Mum?"

**Artemis' POV**

It was as I lay in bed that night that finally, the answer saw fit to emerge from hiding from the very depths of my memory. The whole day had been one of frustration as I'd impatiently tried to wring the solution from my head, and inevitably I'd forced my bad mood on all of my hunters by taking my anger out on them. I supposed that they were probably used to it now, having been metaphorical punch bags for my annoyance on numerous occasions, but I was still sorry for it. I took a note to cut them some slack as soon as this issue was resolved, maybe give them a day off or something.

As soon as I'd remembered it, the answer had seemed obvious. Who else but Ouranos would have been able to influence the air in the way that Thalia had described to me? He was, after all, the original lord of the sky, and although Zeus would probably have been able to control the air in such a manner as well, I didn't see any motive behind him doing it. As far as I'd been able to see, he'd been acting much more civilly at the mention of the son of Poseidon in recent times, probably because of the fact that the demigod had saved his daughters life. And I had been suspicious of the fact that Ouranos had helped Percy all along; he had never been known for his charity. Nothing he did was out of the goodness of his heart, and nothing was to benefit anyone else. He'd let Perseus return to life because he'd required his services, and he definitely hadn't done it to help the young demigod. If I was right, then said son of Poseidon would be in grave danger and so would Olympus.

I did all that I knew I could. "Hunters! To arms!"

**I bet that you've got a loooooooooooooooooooooooot of questions after that chapter. Hard luck, I'm not going to give anything away. Sorry to those of you who don't like the whole suspensey cliffhangery thing, but I've got to keep you all interest somehow, don't I? I suppose that if you really want to find out what happens sooner rather than later, reviews ****_might _****help me to work more quickly...**

**Big thanks to those of you who left ideas for plot in the reviews and my inbox, I read and considered them all very carefully. I am especially grateful to 'Zeuswillknockyouup2' and 'NightingaleTrinity', both of whom showed a touching interest in the story by writing up some amazing ideas in great detail. More than a bit of what has happened in this chapter, and what will happen in the chapters to come, has been from their brains. So thanks!**

**Hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and hopefully I'll see you all again before the weekend.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi, didn't want to have to do this again so soon but I am sorry to announce that I'll be taking an extended hiatus from this story in order to pursue other ideas that I have knocking around in my head. Any authors among you will know how annoying it is to have the idea for a story in your head but not the time to write it up. **

**I'll see you when I see you, I guess**

**Charlie.**


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